


Making Memories

by toughchoices



Series: Don't Forget Me [2]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-12 02:45:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 43,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9052111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toughchoices/pseuds/toughchoices
Summary: Sequel to Don't Forget Me so go read that first





	1. Fighting

Alex sits in the locker room as her teammates dance and get ready for their final game of the year.  Tobin steps in front of her and kneels down, resting her arms on the forward’s legs.  She takes her left hand and moves it from Alex’s eye line and brings it up to her lips.  She smiles up at Alex, “Can I?”

Alex nods and Tobin slides the ring off of her finger.  She holds it out and Alex takes it in her right hand.  Tobin then pulls the roll of athletic tape out of her pocket and rips off a long thin strip.

“Miss Morgan?”

Alex grins.  “Yes?”

“Will you be my wife?” Tobin asks sincerely, looking straight into Alex’s eye, oblivious to the chaos happening behind her.

“Of course you idiot,” Alex says with a huge smile.

Tobin wraps the tape around Alex’s left ring finger. After wrapping it around three times she rips the tape and uses the rest around her own finger.  She kisses the tape and then looks to Alex.  “You ready for this?”

Alex looks down at her hand then back to Tobin.  “Do you think they’re going to notice?”  

Tobin laughs.  “News will start spreading before we’re even done with warm ups.  That okay?”

Alex nods and leans down, pressing her lips against Tobin’s.  “It’s perfect.  I get to call you mine.”

“I’ve been yours for a long time,” Tobin replies as she stands up.  “Longer than you can remember and long before that too.

Alex nods and starts getting ready.  “And you will be for the rest of your life so hopefully you’re used to it.”

Tobin brings her hand up to her chin to think it over.  “I think I can manage that.”

~~~

Alex groans as she climbs onto the bus behind Tobin, “Why do people care about our relationship?” she asks as they walk to their seats.

“Because you’re adorable and you kinda play it up Al,” Kelley comments from behind them.

“I do not,” she argues as she slides into her seat next to Tobin.

“You know I was next to you when you held up your hand to show the tape and said ‘sorry. I’m engaged’ to the fifteen year old asking if you're single,” Kelley says over the seat behind them.

“How is that playing it up?  He asked and I was trying to let him down easy.”

“Yeah but then you turned and looked at Tobin with heart eyes,” Christen adds from next to Kelley.

Alex reaches her hand over and grabs Tobin’s hand, “Okay but that’s not my fault.”  She brings Tobin’s hand up and kisses the inside of her left ring finger, over the silver band that wraps around it.  “I mean have you seen her”  She then leans closer to Tobin’s face which is smiling at her.  “She’s hard not to look at.”  She pushes her lips against Tobin’s and for a few short moments the soft feeling of their lips against each others is all she is focused on.

They break apart when Ashlyn gags from a few rows away.  “Don’t forget I saw you signing ‘Talex’ posters.”

Alex rolls her eyes, “Like you haven’t signed Krashlyn posters before.”

Ashlyn shrugs and winks at Alex, “Just saying.”

~~~

Alex sits at the kitchen table in her parents home, computer open in front of her.  She looks up from the screen as Tobin walks in, drying her hair with the towel around her shoulders. She leans down to give Alex a quick kiss before walking by her.  “How was your phone call?” she asks as she moves to the fridge.

“It was good,” Alex says, turning to watch as her fiancé’s head disappears behind the silver door. “He uh- he brought up France again.”  Alex can see Tobin freeze behind the door momentarily before slowly pulling back and looking at Alex.

“Oh-kay,” the midfielder slowly draws out.  “What did he say?”

“The offers are serious and getting higher,” Alex responds.  She can’t read Tobin’s blank expression.  “They are talking to a few others about joining at the start of next year for the second half.  They offered again for me to come over and visit.”

Tobin nods her head and turns back to the fridge, her face disappearing behind the door.  “So when do you leave?”

“I figured we could take a trip after Thanksgiving and go check it out.” Leaning forward in her chair to try and see Tobin’s face.  “Maybe explore France a bit too.  It could be like a little vacation.”

“Kay,” Tobin replies, her voice breaking slightly.  The fridge door closes and she turns away from Alex who is now on her feet.  “I’m going to take Norbs for a walk.”

“Tobs,” Alex says softly to Tobin’s back.  Whether Tobin doesn’t hear her or ignores her, Alex doesn’t know as Tobin calls for Norbert and continues walking out of the kitchen.  Alex can only listen as Norbert jumps up and runs to Tobin.  Soon after the front door opens and closes and Alex falls back into her seat.

She picks up her phone, pressing her finger against the screen a few times and then holding it to her ear, waiting.

“Hey, Al. What’s up?” Allie says, other voices in the background.

“Lyon contacted my agent again,” Alex starts.  “They uped everything and reoffered a visit.”

“Okay.  So you’re starting to consider this then.  When is your visit?  You could come visit me in Spain at some point.  We can go to a game.”

“They said whenever so I was thinking head over after Thanksgiving.”

“That’s perfect.  You could wander France for a bit then come see me.”

“Mmhm,” Alex hums, looking at the offer that sits open on her screen.

“So why did you call?  I can’t tell you much about Lyon, but Paris was great.”

The line is silent on both ends for a few moments before Alex breaks it.  “What about Tobin?”

“Well did you tell her?” Allie asks.

“Yeah but she just walked out.  Took Norbert for a walk and I think she was crying.”

“Alex, you have to talk to her.”

“I know.  I was trying to but then she left.”

An hour and a half later and three more phone calls, to Jill, Mark, and Megan, Tobin walks back in the door.

Alex stands from the couch and turns to see Tobin unclipping Norbert’s leash.  “We need to talk Tobin,” Alex says as she moves around the couch.

Tobin looks up, her face hard.  “Now you want to talk?” her voice harder.

“Yes,” Alex responds, shocked by Tobin’s anger.  “That’s what I wanted to do two hours ago before you stomped off.”

“Sorry that I’m upset that you’re going to play on the other side of the world without talking to me about it once.”

“I haven’t signed anything or agreed to anything and we have talked about it.”

“It doesn’t count as talking if we are joking around about how your new boss thinks tweeting at you will work but oh wait...it did.  I guess I was the only one laughing then.”

“Tobin,” Alex cries out.  “It’s not a done deal.”

“It seems like it.  You’re going on a visit which means you seem pretty serious in considering it.”  Tobin’s voice rising.

“Why don’t you come too?” Alex tries to reason.  “I can try to work something out with them for you too.”

“I’m not going to Lyon,” Tobin exclaims, her eyes glossing over.  “I don’t need you to work out some deal so little ol’ me can follow you to France.”

“Okay not Lyon.  What about PSG?  You were going to go there once.”

“Yeah I was,” Tobin almost shouts, “but I stayed for you.  I had to buy my way out of my contract because you said you needed me here.  You said you needed me in Portland.”  She runs her hand through her hair, gripping a handful at the top and pulling, trying to feel something less painful.

“Tobs, why can’t you talk to me about this.”

“Why?  You do something and I follow along like a faithful puppy.  That’s what you expected me to do now, isn’t it?  Go to France, Alex.”

“I want you to come with me but I’m not making you,” Alex argues.

Tobin shakes her head, her lower lashes holding the tears back from leaking out of her eyes.  “You already have your mind set on going.  We’re not discussing this.  It’s you telling me what you’re doing.  Thanks for the update.”  The tears start flowing down Tobin’s cheeks but as Alex steps closer Tobin’s hand shoots up and she takes a step back.  “Don’t”  Tobin turns and moves to the stairs, wiping her cheeks and she bounds up them.  

Alex looks up the stairs long after Tobin disappears from sight.  She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself down then moves to the couch figuring they both need some time to cool down.

Less than ten minutes later Alex hears footsteps on the stairs and she turns quickly, ready to talk.  Her face falls when she sees Tobin lugging one of her suitcases down the stairs and her backpack hanging on one shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Alex asks as she moves to the stairs.

Tobin doesn’t even look at Alex as she places her suitcase down and pulls the handle up.  “You’re already planning to leave me so why not just start now.  I’ll make it easy on you and go first.”

Alex can hear the bite in Tobin’s voice as she wheels her USSoccer bag to the door.  “Tobin, you can’t just leave,” she exclaims, holding her arm up.

Tobin looks up, staring right into Alex eyes.  Her eyes red and Alex can feel the hole burning into her in the pit of her stomach.  “Watch me.”  Tobin pushes past Alex and moves to the door, yanking it open. “I’ll get the rest of my stuff later.”  The door slams closed behind her and Alex moves quickly to get it open again and follow after.

Alex sees Tobin opening the trunk of a car idling in the driveway.  She jogs over as Tobin loads her bags in.  “Where are you going?”  Alex asks again as she glances towards the driver’s seat, “Who is that?”

“It’s my uber driver.”  Tobin shuts the trunk and looks past Alex to the open front door where Norbert is standing.  “Let me know when you’re leaving and I’ll come get him or you could just take him too.”

“Where are you going?  Just stay.  Talk with me.”  Alex pleads, putting her hands on her hips as Tobin tries to move around the car.  “Please.  Don’t leave.”

“You only get to say that to me once and you used it up a long time ago,” Tobin argues, pushing past Alex again.  She opens the car door.

“I love you,” Alex says to her back causing Tobin to freeze.  Alex waits for Tobin to turn, to say it back, to do anything besides get in the car but after a few painfully long seconds Tobin climbs into the car and shuts the door.  

Alex stares in disbelief as the car drives away.  Alex glances down at her hand, the sparkle of the diamond resting on her finger a little dimmer than she remembers it.

She’s not sure how long she stays in the driveway but Norbert eventually walks over and rubs his head against her leg, trying to get some attention.  Alex pats his head once and drags her feet inside.

Norbert curls up next to her once she’s seated on the couch and that’s when the tears start to freely flow down Alex’s cheeks.  She hugs his large head and cries into his neck.

Alex hears her phone ringing and quickly leans over to the table where it’s sitting, answering it while glancing at the screen.   _Allie Long_

Alex sighs and moves the phone to her ear, “Hey, Al.”

Allie doesn’t notice the roughness or sadness in Alex’s voice as she talks quickly about seeing the El Classico game when they come to visit.  

“She left,” Alex says softly while Allie takes a breath.

“What?”

“She left,” Alex repeats.

“What do you mean she left?” Allie questions, her voice losing it’s happy tone.  “Where did she go?”

The tears start to blur Alex’s vision again.  “I don’t know.  She went upstairs and I thought she was just cooling off but she packed a bag and got an Uber.  I don’t know where she went.  A hotel maybe.”

“Did you guys at least try to talk it out?” Allie asks worried.

“Yes, but she just kept getting angrier.  She yelled at me,” Alex’s voice cracks.  “I don’t know if she’s ever yelled at me before.”

“You have no idea where she is.  She didn’t say anything,” Allie confirms.

“I asked her but she never responded.  I told her I loved her and she ignored me.”  Alex starts crying again.

“Alex,” Allie tries to comfort through the phone.  “It’s going to be okay.  She’s upset but she still loves you.”

Alex takes a few slow breaths. “Then why won’t she talk to me about this?  I told her she could come to France too so we wouldn’t have to be apart.”

“Was part of your contract with Lyon that Tobin could sign too?”  

“No, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be a hard sell.  It’s not like she’d be dead weight.  And there are a ton of other teams over there too.”

“Al, I don’t mean this in a bad way but you kinda suck.  The way you’re talking about this, your mind is already made up and you just expect Tobin to be okay with that right away.”

“It’s not made up yet.  I want to talk to her about it.  I want to spend my life with her an-”

“And she planned on at least the next few months doing that in Portland.”

“Which she can do.  She doesn’t have to come to France.  I might not go to France.  I just want to check it out.  I could go visit and hate the team.”

“Yes, but you could also go visit and love the team which I think is the more likely scenario.”

“Okay but that still doesn’t mean it’s what I’ll do.”

Allie slowly breathes out.  “Forget about Tobin for a second.  Why do _you_ want to go?”

“Because it can help me improve.  They’re stacked.  I’ll need to fight for a spot.  It’s a good kick.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this again.”

“Okay.  Why would you stay?”

Immediately Alex responds, “Tobin.”

“I said forget about her,” Allie reminds.

“How can I forget about her.”

“Because she’s clouding your judgement.  What are some other reasons you want to stay?”

“I’ll miss preseason and the first month and half of the season.”

“Mark will understand,” Allie says.

“I talked to him, he does.”

“You talked to him?” Allie questions.  “When?”

“While I was waiting for Tobin to come back.  I talked to Jill and Megan too.”

“Shit, Al.  You’ve talked to so many people about this but not the one person you say is holding you back.”

“I tried.”

“It sounds like kind of the opposite.  Like you don’t want to talk to her about it so that she can’t hold you back.”

“That makes no sense, Allie,” Alex argues.

“It does.  You need to find Tobin and talk to her.  Call me later.”

Before Alex can respond the line goes dead.  She pulls up Tobin’s contact and presses it.  After a few rings it goes to voicemail.  She tries again but nothing changes.  Alex quickly moves to her texts.

**Lex: Tobin we need to talk about this.  Where are you?**

A few minutes go by with no answer.

**Lex: Please.  Tobin.  I want you to come back home.**

Alex pushes herself up and walks to the kitchen where her laptop has shut off.  She sets her phone down and waits for her computer to come back to life.  She quickly moves to twitter, hoping for the first time ever that the fans ability to search them out will help her locate Tobin.

The most recent mentions all involve their new engagement, which is barely a week old.  Alex shuts the computer and picks up her phone again.

**Lex: I love you**

**Lex: Please baby**

Alex looks at the clock on her phone, thinking it’s broken with how long it takes for two minutes to pass.  With no response she tries calling Tobin again.  A few rings before she gets her voicemail.  She lets it play and when she hears the beep, starts talking.

“I’m sorry, Tobin.  I know I didn’t handle this right.  I want to talk about this with you.  Please come back so we can talk about this.  I need you.” Tears start to build up in her eyes and her voice breaks.  “I love you.”

She hangs up the phone and types one final text before trudging to the couch and curling up.

**Lex: Can you just answer me so I know you’re okay**

~~~

The hours roll by and soon her parents are home, both inquiring about Tobin’s whereabouts.  Alex shakes her head, biting her lip for a moment before softly uttering, “I don’t know.”

She escapes up to her room after a few minutes and looks around the space they had been sharing.  Tobin’s other suitcase lays open on the floor near the closet with clothes thrown in haphazardly.  Alex walks over and sinks to her knees, in front of the pile of clothes.  She picks up the plain black t-shirt Tobin had worn the previous day.  She brings it to her face and takes in a deep breath, smiling at the strong scent of Tobin filling her nostrils.

She gingerly folds the shirt and places it next to her.  She then pulls out the rest of Tobin’s clothes and slowly folds each item before placing it back in the bag.  Alex looks at the bag and picks up the black shirt still on the floor next to her.  She stands up and quickly changes into sweatpants and Tobin’s shirt.  She crawls into bed and pulls out her phone, trying Tobin again but getting her voicemail.  

Alex begrudgingly waits for the beep, tapping impatiently on her leg.

“Hi, Tobs,” Alex near whispers.  “I haven’t signed anything yet.  I swear.  I won’t accept it if that’s what you want.  I will call them right now and tell them that I’m staying in Portland with you.  Please tell me where you are.  I don’t even know if you’re still in California.  Please…. I just… I miss you.  I’m sorry for everything.  Please tell me where you are and I will be right there.  I’m worried.”  Alex gathers herself. “I love you… so much.  Tobin, please.  Just let me know you’re okay.”

She hangs up and opens her group text with Kelley, Christen, and Allie.

**Alex: Have you guys heard from Tobin today?**

It only takes a couple of seconds before she sees Kelley responding.

**Kelley: No...why?**

**Alex: We got in a fight today and she took off.  I haven’t heard from her since this morning**

**Kelley: What happened?**

**Alex: I’m thinking about playing with Lyon and I wanted to talk about with her.  She got super upset and took off**

**Allie: You still haven’t heard from her?**

**Alex: No and I’m getting worried.  I just want her to respond so I know she’s okay**

**Alex: If I don’t hear from her by tomorrow I think I’m going to fly up to Portland and see if she’s there**

**Allie: If I was still there I’d go check for you.  Can you have someone else check?**

**Kelley: Would she really get on a plane without telling you?**

**Alex: She was really mad Kel.  I’ve never seen her like that**

**Kelley: All just because you want to play in France?  This seems extreme**

**Alex: I don’t know what else it could be.  I think it was more a communication thing but yeah because of France**

**Christen: She’s not in Portland**

Alex almost drops her phone as she rushes to respond.

**Alex: How do you know?**

**Alex: Where is she?**

It takes an agonizingly long time for Christen to respond.

**Christen: She talked to me early. She’s still in Cali**

**Alex: Are you still talking to her? Can you tell her to call me or at least text me?  I’ll go to her so we can talk if she’s not ready to come back yet**

**Christen: She’s pretty upset and just wants to be alone**

**Alex: What about tomorrow?  Do you think she’ll be ready to talk then?**

**Christen: She’s really upset.  She thinks she’s losing you again**

**Alex: What? How is she losing me?**

**Kelley: Yeah, you just proposed**

**Christen: Think about it.  She proposed to you last year and then like two weeks later you were in a coma**

**Christen: Like you two being engaged is cursed**

“Fuck,” Alex mutters as she switches over to Tobin’s contact right below.  She presses the phone button and brings it to her ear.

She hears it ring a few times before it goes to voicemail.

“Tobin please.  I love you.  I still want to spend the rest of my life with you.  I’m going to call my agent in the morning and tell him to turn down the offer and visit.  I’ll stay for you.  It was just an idea.  A very stupid one.  Baby come back to me.  Just give me an address and I’ll come pick you up or we can just talk.  I can bring you your other bag if you’re not ready to come back.  Please, Tobs, just give me something. Let me know you’re okay.  I love you.”

Alex pulls the phone away and disconnects the call.  She turns the volume up and sets her phone down on the nightstand. She curls up into Tobin’s pillow and let’s her silent tears put her to sleep.


	2. Making Up

Tobin picks her head up off of Christen’s lap and rubs the sleep out of her eyes.  The title screen for the random movie Christen had chosen plays on the laptop screen near Christen’s feet.  Tobin looks up at Christen and finds her head resting back in the pillows, eyes closed, and soft even breaths coming out of her slightly parted mouth.

Tobin reaches over and shuts the laptop before rolling off the bed.  She places the laptop on the dresser and looks around Christen’s room.  She rubs her burning eyes and flicks the light switch before moving to the guest room Christen had shown her earlier.

She picks up her phone from where she put it when she first arrived.  She unlocks it and sees she has 8 missed phone calls, 5 voicemails, and 35 unread texts.  

She glances at the long string of texts first from Allie then Kelley.  She takes a slow inhale of air, filling her lungs, trying to prepare herself for Alex’s texts.  She reads through them a few times, sensing Alex’s worry growing in each new text.

She then goes to her voicemails, ignoring Kelley’s and staring at Alex’s name, her thumb hovering over.

She finally clicks on the earliest one and listens to it.  She listens to it a second time and a third.  She selects the next one.  Tears starting to leak out of her eyes as she hears the hurt in Alex’s voice.  

There’s a soft knock on her door and Christen’s head pops around the doorway.  Tobin weakly smiles at her and wipes her cheeks dry.  “Hey,” she says with a hoarse voice.

Christen walks in and sits down on the edge of her bed.  “We both fell asleep.”

“Yeah.  Sorry.  I didn’t mean to use you as a pillow… or to cry in your lap.”

Christen shakes her head and reaches a hand out, rubbing Tobin’s arm.  “I don’t mind.  I’m here for you whenever you need me.”  

They sit in silence for a few minutes.  “I don’t know what to do.”

Christen nods.  “Alex loves you.  Did this make you not love her?”

“No,” Tobin responds quickly.  “I just don’t know how to handle this.  She makes decisions without me.  Decisions that affect me, affect us.  I thought we were planning a wedding but she’s planning to move.”

“No matter where she is, Tobs, she still wants to be with you,” Christen tries.

“I get that but she can’t expect me to just go along with whatever she decides without talking to me about it.  What if these have all been signs?  Signs that we aren’t supposed to be together.”

“You keep saying that but Tobin, I have never seen two people more perfect for eachother.  I just don’t see how you could possibly think you aren’t meant to be together.”

“Love isn’t everything, Chris.”  Tobin picks up her phone, looking at the one message from Alex she still has to listen to.  Christen squeezes Tobin’s forearm.  

“You need to talk to her.”

Tobin nods, knowingly.  “Thanks for letting me stay here.”

Christen smiles sadly.  “I meant it when I said anytime.”   They sit in silence for a few more minutes.  “Okay.  I’m going to go to bed unless you need something.”

“No.  I’m good.  Thanks Christen.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

Christen slowly gets up and walks out of the room.  She stops in the doorway, turning around.  “It’s all going to work out, Tobin. Just give it time.”

Tobin nods and watches as Christen closes the door behind her.  She takes a few moments to settle herself before playing Alex’s final voicemail.  The distress in her voice evident immediately.

“Fuck,” she mutters as she listens to the message quickly pulling the phone away from her ear before it’s even over.  She quickly presses her screen and brings the phone up to her ear again.

She waits as it rings, once, twice, she starts preparing herself to leave a voicemail as it rings a third time but right before the fourth ring ends it is cut off.  “Hello,” Alex’s tired voice passes through the tiny speaker.  Tobin pulls her phone away quickly, checking the time.  2:48.

“Sorry.  I didn’t realize what time it was.”

“Tobin,” Alex says, her voice already peppier.  “No. No.  It’s okay.  I’m glad you called.”  There’s a long pause, each listening to the sound of the other’s breathing.  “I’m sorry,” Alex says, finally breaking the silence.  “I don’t know if you listened to them but I left you a few messages and I’m going to call my agent in the morning and tell him I’m staying in Portland.  I’m go-”

“No.”

Alex, now fully awake, pauses, waiting to see if Tobin is going to explain more.  When she doesn’t, she simply repeats it, “No?”

“Don’t call your agent.”

“Why not?  I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“We need to talk more.  Don’t call him until we do.”

“Do you want to talk now?  I can come to you, you could come here, or we could meet somewhere.”

“Alex it’s 3 in the morning.”

“I know a few 24 coffee places.”

“And that doesn’t surprise me but this can wait until daylight.”

“But we can talk?” Alex asks hopeful.

“Yeah,” Tobin responds.  “I’ll come by the house, okay?”

“Do you want me to pick you up?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“It just seems silly for you to take an uber if we have this rental car.”

“I wasn’t going to take an uber.  Chris said she would drive me.”

“Are you at her house?” Alex asks.  ‘ _Why did I not think of that hours ago._ ’

“Yeah,” Tobin replies blankly.

Alex nods, knowing full well that Tobin can’t see her.  “I’m glad you’re safe.  I was worried.”

“I’m fine.  I came straight here.”

“I thought maybe you went back home.  I was going to get on a flight till Christen told me you hadn’t left Cali.”

“She didn’t tell you where I was?”

“No. Though now that I think about it it’s pretty obvious.  I haven’t really been thinking straight.”  Tobin’s mouth is only started to open before Alex makes her close it again.  “Please don’t make some joke about my thoughts never being straight.”

Tobin’s face falls.  “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”  Alex takes a deep breath.  “I miss you.”

“It’s been less than 24 hours, Lex.”

“First off, I miss you when you go to the grocery store so time is irrelevant.  But I meant I miss you because I haven’t talked to you.  I haven’t had your love to keep me company.  I -”

“I never stopped loving you.  I just needed space.  I will never stop loving you.  I feel like the no matter what is pretty self evident from the past year.”

Alex nods, more to herself than to Tobin.  Her voice breaks as she asks, “So you still want to be engaged?”

“Alex,” Tobin sighs. “I never said I didn’t.  Can this just wait until I get there?”

“Okay,” her voice an octave higher than normal.  “Are you sure I can’t just come get you?”

“Alex, I still need the space.  I don’t know if I’m staying when I come over tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Alex glances down at the ring on her finger.  “Okay.”

“You should get some sleep.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay,” she repeats.  “You don’t have to say it back but I want you to know that I love you.”  Tobin doesn’t respond right away, thinking over different responses.  Alex almost thinks Tobin hung up except for the soft sound of her breathing coming through the speaker.  Alex’s shoulders slump.  “Goodnight, Tobs.”

“Night,” Tobin replies softly, “and Lex… me too.”  Tobin pulls the phone away from her ear, ending the call.

~~~

Christen pulls up in front of Alex’s childhood home and looks over at Tobin.  “You sure you don’t want to take your stuff in with you?”

Tobin nods, “I want to work this all out, but I’m not sure I want to stay.  Not yet at least.  I think I’ll still need some space.  Are you sure you’re cool with just chilling around for an hour while I talk to her?”

“Yeah,” Christen nods.  “I’ll go get a coffee and I brought a book.  Just text me if you need more time or want me to come pick you up sooner.”

Tobin nods as she steps out, “Thanks, Chris.”

She watches Christen back out of the driveway before heading to the front door.  She walks up the few steps, bringing her hand up to knock but the door opens immediately and Alex is standing in the doorway.  Norbert barks from somewhere in the house and Tobin can hear his claws against the tile, but her eyes are locked on Alex’s.  Alex’s heavy, red, tired eyes.

“Hi,” Tobin says softly.  She sees Norbert come into view and kneels down, allowing him to lick her face.  “Hey buddy.”  She rubs his head and gives him a few kisses before standing up and looking back at Alex.  The crossed arms, old Cal sweatshirt, and sad smile on her face let Tobin know the exact kind of night Alex had.

“Norbs,” Alex says softly but forceful enough for him to move to her side.  He looks back up at Tobin, tail wagging and waiting for her to follow.  Alex steps out of the doorway and allows Tobin inside.  Tobin kicks her flip flops off and closes the door behind her.

Alex watches Tobin, unsure how to act.  “Kitchen?”  the midfielder asks.  Alex nods and leads the way, pulling out a chair and sitting down.  They silently sit across from each other for a few seconds before Tobin opens her mouth.  “Do you understand why I’m upset?”

Alex nods, “I think so.”

“Okay, well let’s start there.”  Tobin combs her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face.  “Why am I upset?”

“We just got engaged and I’d be leaving for six months.  You’re scared you’re losing me again but Tobin I swear that’s not it.”  Tobin holds up her hand, silencing Alex immediately.

“If you go away I’ll be upset but that’s not why I’m upset.  You don’t talk to me about this kind of stuff.  If it’s something you want to do then come to me.  Ask my opinion.  I just want to talk to you but you give me no say.  Even if you don’t agree with my opinion and ignore what I say I still want you to hear it.”  Tobin sighs and looks down at her hands.  “If you really love me, you need to talk to me about what’s going on.  You asked me to be part of the rest of your life but I can’t if you’re not going to be open about everything.”  

“I want to talk to you now.  I’m sorry, Tobin.”  Alex reaches her hand across the table, her fingertips brushing Tobin’s hands.  “I didn’t mean to upset you.  I want to talk about everything with you.  What are you feeling?”

“I’m still struggling a bit with the new you and I jus-”

“Wait,” Alex stops her. “What does that mean?”

Tobin sighs, “You’re different.”  Tobin looks down at their hands. “Not in ways most people would recognize but you react to things differently, laugh at jokes you didn’t used to.  Everything is a surprise to me.”

Alex’s face falls slightly, “Does that mean you don’t love me or something?  Do you just hope the old me is going to miraculously remember or something because that’s probably not going to happen?”

Tobin shakes her head.  “I still love you.”

“But do you love the old me or the new me?” Alex asks, getting slightly defensive.

“Alex,” Tobin whispers, trying to soothe her.  “I love you.  You’re not a different person entirely.  You’re just a different model.”  Alex rolls her eyes at Tobin’s analogy.  “If you lose your memory again, I will love the next you that wakes up and will wait and hope that she falls in love with me again too.  You’re just not the same one I was here with a year ago.  I can’t always remember with which Alex something happened.  

“Like what was the name of that place I got blueberry pancakes at that one time on a rainy day in Portland?  But was that with you now or was that a few years ago.  I don’t want to bring it up and ask because you normally get upset when I bring up things from before.”

Alex stands and moves to the chair next to Tobin.  “I want you to ask me those questions.  If I don’t remember I might get a little upset but only because I want that memory back but we can just make a new one.  I could make blueberry pancakes instead and we can eat them on the couch cuddled under a warm blanket together.”

Tobin nods but doesn’t respond.  Alex smiles at Tobin and reaches onto the table for her phone.  She presses a few buttons then brings the phone to her ear.  Tobin watches her confused, mouthing ‘Who are you calling?’ but Alex just shakes her head and smiles back.

Tobin listens intently as she hears a voice from the other side and then Alex start to talk.

“Hi...so I made a decision.”

“Yeah.  You can tell them that I’m not interested and am going to stay in Portland.”

Tobin quickly reaches out for the phone, pulling it from Alex’s hand and bringing it to her ear.

“Dan?” Tobin asks, making sure it’s Alex’s manager.

“Yes,” she hears through the tiny phone speaker.  She quickly stands up and moves away from the table as Alex tries to grab for the phone.  

“Hey, this is Tobin.  Don’t tell Lyon no just yet.  Alex said they would be okay letting her visit.”  She moves to the back door, quickly slipping out as Alex starts to follow after her.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Tobin holds the door shut as Alex tries to pull it open.  Tobin smirks as she responds.  “Can you set up a visit for after Thanksgiving.  Sometime still in November because we’re going to see my parents in December.”  Tobin sees Alex give up and cross her arms.

“You mean for Alex correct, or are you agreeing to let me be your agent as well?”

“No this is for Alex.  I’m good where I am,” Tobin chuckles and lets go of the door handle.

“Well she just told me she didn’t want this and I don’t want to send her over there if she already knows she’s going to say no.”

As she walks circles around the backyard she hears the door softly open and close.  “She thinks that’s what she wants because she thinks that’s what I want but it’s not.  A visit isn’t a contract.  It’s not binding.  It’s just a visit.  She can say no later if it’s what she really wants.”

“Okay.  I’ll set it up then and call her back with more details.”

“Thanks Dan.”

“Tobin, hold on,” he says.  

“Yeah?”

“You sure you don’t want me to try to work out a deal for you.  I could send all of that stuff to your agent if you do but you could go with her.”

Tobin shakes her head even though he can’t see.  “No, really.  I’m good here.  I need to keep Portland in tip top shape if she’s going to be coming back from a Champions League win.”

She hears him laugh and they both say goodbye before she hangs up the call and turns around to Alex staring at her confused.

“I thought you didn’t want me to go.”

“Alex,” Tobin shakes her head. “I’m selfish in wanting you to stay but I love you so much more than that. I know you’re interested and it’s something you should at least check out.  If you want to do it then this is when you should do it and I’m not going to hold you back.  We’re going to go check them out and if you like it then we can talk more.  If you don’t like it then hey, we got to check out France for a bit.”

“But if I go I’ll be gone for six months.”

“You’ll come back for camps and I can come visit until I need to be back for the Thorns.  I think you missing Norbert is going to be the bigger thing.”

“I will miss him but I’ll miss you more.” Alex takes a few steps closer to Tobin and tentatively reaches for her hand.  Tobin lets her and takes a step in.  “I don’t like sleeping alone anymore.”  Alex looks down into Tobin’s warm eyes.

“If you’re in France without me you’re going to have to get used to sleeping alone.”

“So I shouldn’t invite some random person off the street to keep me warm at night.”

Tobin glares into Alex’s eyes, knowing the game she’s playing.  “You could always call me and I’ll warm you up.”

“Oh, really?” Alex asks, tilting her head to the side with a slightly mischievous smile.  “How could you possibly do that if you’re in Portland?”

“I’ll just remind you of today.”  Tobin quickly moves her hands to Alex’s hips and slides them down around her butt, lifting one leg up so it wraps around her then the other.  

Alex smiles down at Tobin, the lust in both of their eyes heavy as Alex keeps up the charade. “And what’s happening today that you need to remind me of.”

Tobin doesn’t answer her with words, but places her mouth against Alex’s.  After a long, forceful kiss they break apart, out of breath, and Tobin walks quickly back into the house with Alex’s legs still wrapped around her.

~~~

Christen groans as she knocks on the door again.  The only response is Norbert on the other side barking back at her.  She glances down at her phone seeing the three texts she sent Tobin in the past fifteen minutes still unread.

Christen pushes her face against the glass window of the door, trying to find the elusive midfielder.  Norbert stares back at her, barking once.  She glances around, her eyes landing on Tobin’s flip flops right inside the door.

“Alright.  Well she’s still here,” Christen mutters to herself.  “Unless she left without her flip flops.”

She sits down on the steps and starts a new group text on her phone.

**Christen: Have either of you heard from Tobin or Alex in the past hour**

**Christen: I dropped T off so she could talk to A and she told me to be back in an hour but noone is answering the door**

**Christen: If it went bad I could see her just walking out again but she’s not answering my texts and Alex isn’t answering the door**

After sending the last text she gets one back.

**Kelley: Nope.  Could they have gone for a walk or something**

**Christen: Doubt it.  Norberts still here**

**Allie: Why?  Why Christen?  Why did you have to do this to me?  I was JUST starting to forget**

**Christen: …?**

**Allie: They had a fight and you can’t find them… where do you think they are**

**Christen: Okay got it.  Leaving**

**Christen: Wait. But I have her bags.  What am I supposed to do with them?**

**Kelley: Is the door unlocked?**

**Christen: I don’t know Kel.  Breaking and entering isn’t usually the first thing I think of**

**Kelley: No breaking, just lock checking.  Put the bags inside if it is.**

Christen turns and looks at the house then back at her car.  She walks over and grabs Tobin’s backpack and suitcase, moving slowly towards the door.  She knocks again, waiting a full sixty seconds to see if anyone would answer.  Once she realizes it’s a lost cause she reaches for the door handle.  It opens much to her relief and displeasure.

She cautiously pushes it open and is met with Norbert barking.  She jumps back slightly.  “It’s okay Norbie.” She holds out a hand trying to soothe the large dog.  He sniffs at her then lets her pet him.  Once he is more relaxed, Christen pulls Tobin’s suitcase into the entryway.

She is about to take Tobin’s backpack from her shoulder when she hears a noise coming from deeper in the house.  She freezes in panic.  She then hears a loud groan and quickly slides the bag off her arm.  As she places it down next to the suitcase, she hears Alex yell out.  

Christen cringes and quickly backs out the door and closes it softly behind her.  She runs to her car and almost dives in, slamming the door closed behind her.  She sits in the driver’s seat, head on the steering wheel as she tries to clear her head.  She pulls her phone from her pocket.

**Christen: Kelley I hate you.  I don’t know if I will ever be able to look at either of them again**

**Kelley: HAHAHAHA I meant leave it near the door.  Not go find them**

**Allie: Welcome to the club**

**Christen: I barely got two feet in the front door.  I just heard them.  Then I ran**

**Kelley: Welp this was my entertainment for the day.  Thank you Chris**

**Christen: I hate you**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really having a hard time if deciding if I want her to go or not. Have good ideas for her going but then she leaves so I don't know. Not sure when I'll post to this again. As always, open to ideas for anything in this storyline


	3. Love Will Go the Distance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a pretty fluffy chapter but i needed to write it for what is to come next which I think you'll really like  
> Also it's draft day.

“Tobin?” Alex calls from the foot of the stairs, adjusting the blanket around her shoulders.

“What?” the midfielder calls back, still laying in bed.

“Did you have your bags with you when you came in?”

“What?” Alex can hear Tobin’s bare feet hit the ground then the sound of them padding against the wood floor.  Alex turns and sees Tobin standing at the top of the stairs pulling on a t-shirt.  “What babe?”

Alex points behind her, “When you came in did you have your bags with you?”

“No,” she starts making her way down the stairs, confused. “I left them in…” She stops, frozen.  Staring at the bags for thirty seconds before, “Fuck.”  Tobin races past Alex to the kitchen where she had lost her pants a few hours ago.  “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” She searches through the pockets of her jeans, pulling her phone out.

“What’s going on?” Alex asks, walking in.

“It’s almost three,” Tobin says in response as she opens up her texts.

“Okay, and…?” Alex asks.  Tobin shakes her head and holds up a finger as she looks down at her screen.

**Christen: Hey. I’m going to head over now unless you need more time**

**Christen: I’m here.  How’s it going?**

**Christen: Tobin...where are you? I’ve been knocking on the door for five minutes**

**Christen: I just left your bags inside.  If you’re not staying let me know**

Tobin looks up at Alex.  “Did you hear anyone knocking on the door?”

Alex shakes her head, moving even closer to Tobin.  “No, but I was a little busy.”

“Well,” Tobin groans, handing over the phone.  “She did and she probably knows what we were doing at the very minimum.”

Alex reads the texts and hands the phone back.  “She didn’t say anything.  She could have just thought we were out or something.”

Alex picks up her own phone from the kitchen table and looks at the two missed calls from her manager.  She glances up at Tobin.  “Tobs.”

“Hmm,” Tobin hums, glancing up from her phone.

“Are you sure because if you want me to I’ll stay.”

Tobin sets her phone down and wraps Alex in a tight hug.  “Of course I want you to stay but if you’re ever going to play abroad now is the time.”  Tobin steps back and interlocks their hands

Alex glances down at the two rings sparkling up at her.  “Have we ever been apart for this long before?”

“You’ll be back for camps and stuff.  Just don’t worry about anything till we go check it out.”  Alex meekly nods and presses a kiss to her lips.

“If you change your mind, just tell me.”  

Tobin shakes her head.  “I won’t”

Tobin walks to the fridge for the water Alex had come downstairs to get while Alex looks at her phone.

**Kelley O': So you guys stopped fighting ;)**

**Kelley O': Also… Pretty sure you scarred Christen for life just so you know**

Alex looks up to where Tobin is squirting water into her mouth.  “Uh, Tobs….”

Tobin looks over at her smiling.  “What’s up?”

“So…,” Alex holds out her phone as Tobin starts walking back over, “Christen knows about…”

Tobin grabs the phone from Alex, when she doesn’t finish her sentence, reading the text quickly.  She shrugs and hands the phone back.  “Nothing new.”

“ _Nothing new_? Tobin she walked in and saw us having sex and we didn’t even know.”

Tobin shrugs again, “It’s not like she hasn’t seen us naked before and we’ve been caught before.  Kinda creepy that we didn’t notice her but whatever.  It happened and we have an hour before your parents get home.”

Alex rolls her eyes at Tobin.  “We should maybe disinfect the kitchen first.”

Tobin groans.  “Fine.”  She looks around the kitchen.  “Uh...where did I lose my underwear?”

Alex smirks and closes the distance.  She presses her lips against Tobin’s softly, pulling away after a few seconds.  “I’m really glad you’re back.”

Tobin smiles back, “Even when I leave I will always come back to you.”

“Promise,” she asks softly.

“Promise,” Tobin replies, sealing it with a kiss.  “Now I kinda need to find where you threw my underwear because as much as your parents love me I don’t think they need to know we did it in the kitchen.”

Alex smirks, “I think you lost those in the living room, not the kitchen love.”

Tobin nods, “Right,” and moves to the couch which they had fallen back on a few hours prior.  Alex follows after her, reaching her just as she pulls them on followed by her jeans.  “You should maybe get dressed too unless you want to clean wrapped in a blanket.”

Alex shakes her head, dropping the blanket.  “Why do I have to clean in anything?”

Tobin’s eyes slowly rake up and down her body.  “If you want anything ‘clean’ to happen you are going to need to be clothed.”

Alex pouts, grabbing Tobin’s bra from the chair next her.  “Fine,” she groans as she hands it over.

~~~

Tobin sits at the kitchen table surrounded by Alex, her sisters, and her mom.  She mindlessly flips through a magazine in front of her, her focus more on a soccer game on an iPad on the middle of the table.

“What about something like this?” Alex asks for what seems like the fiftieth time, holding out a different magazine towards Tobin.  Tobin glances up, eyeing what feels like the hundredth backdrop for their future nuptials.

“Pretty but no,” Tobin says of the field of flowers surrounding a simple white altar before turning back to the game.

“Tobin,” Alex’s voice says harshly.  “I need you to care.”

“I do care,” Tobin says defensively, looking up and noticing the other Morgan women looking between the two.

“Well it would be nice if you started acting like it and stopped watching the game.”

“I want to marry you.  That’s what I care about.  This,” she points at the magazine Alex is still holding out to Tobin, “is beautiful.  So was the beach and the barn and the cliff.  I’m not going to notice any of it.  The only thing I am going to see on that day is you.  I’m going to look into your eyes and proclaim my love to you in front of whoever shows up.”

Tobin’s eyes flick back down to her soccer game for a moment before looking back to Alex whose annoyance is now lost to admiration and love.  “As long as you show up to whatever place we pick, it could be a garbage dump and I won’t care.” Alex rolls her eyes, “Okay maybe not a garbage dump because that will smell pretty bad, but you get what I mean.”

Alex nods with a smile. “So tell me about this one.”  She holds out the magazine again.  “Where does it rank on the garbage dump scale?”

Tobin looks down at the picture again.  “That’s really pretty but I don’t think it will work.”

“Why?” Alex asks, placing it down and taking Tobin’s hand, playing with the ring.

“Allergies,” Tobin states simply, glancing sideways at the game for a second.  “For it to look that pretty, it most likely happened in the spring and anyone with allergies would feel like shit.  They won’t be crying because of how pretty you are but because they are dying a slow death on the inside.”

Jeni snickers, “True and there are probably a ton of bees.”

Alex rolls her eyes, but keeps them focused on Tobin.  “Which one do you like the best so far?”

Tobin glances down at the game for a moment before looking back at the piles of magazines, papers, and pamphlets scattered around the table.  “I liked the beach but I think we need to figure out when first over where.”

“Well what do you think?” Alex asks.

“What if we do it in like a year.  December or something?” Tobin recommends.

“A winter wedding would be nice,” Alex’s mom adds from across the table.

“Okay but no snow.  I want it to be warm,” Alex demands.  “I want to be able to wear a short dress even if we’re outside.”

“What if you did it here?” Jeri asks. “Like not at the house but somewhere near here.  You could do the beach or basically any of the thousands of wedding places.”

Tobin looks to Alex, who nods. “Cool.  So we have an area down.  Now just a billion other things to look through.”

Tobin smirks and returns her attention back to the game while the rest of the women continue flipping through magazines, making comments every once in awhile on what they like.

~~~

Thanksgiving comes and goes far too quickly for Tobin.  Tobin stays close to Alex’s side the whole day.  Even if they are conversing with different people they are within an arm's reach of each other.  As they both stand at the sink, scrubbing the seemingly endless pile of plates and pots, Tobin rests her head on Alex’s shoulder.  “I’m going to miss you,” Tobin says softly.

“I don’t know if I’m going yet,” Alex tells her, resting her cheek against the crown of Tobin’s head.

“Yes you do,” Tobin mumbles.  “Unless something is really wrong, which we know there’s not, you’re going to sign.”

Alex turns off the water and dries her hands on her jeans before turning to Tobin and wrapping her fiance tight in her arms.  “I love you.”

Tobin buries her nose into the crook of Alex’s neck.  Tobin takes in a deep breath, trying to keep Alex’s scent fresh in her mind.  Alex waits until Tobin’s arms start to loosen around her waist before stepping back.

“Alex?” Tobin asks, looking up at her with slightly glossy eyes.  Alex smiles down at her and kisses her forehead.  “Can you promise to love me forever?”

The forward’s heart drops slightly.  “Of course.”  She grabs Tobin’s left hand, pulling it up.  “If you ever start to wonder or worry just look at this okay?  This ring is my promise that I will love you unconditionally for the rest of my life.”

Tobin nods, staring at the ring.  “Kiss me?”  Alex rolls her eyes but tilts her head down to oblige.

~~~

Tobin sits in the cafe a few blocks away from the hotel, tapping at the table with her empty coffee mug.  She checks her watch again, noting she’s been sitting alone for almost fortyfive minutes, waiting.  She stares at the second mug sitting on the table, the steam no longer flowing up from the light brown liquid.  

She sets her cup down and looks around at the mostly empty tables.  Five minutes later she finally sees Alex jog through the door, looking around the small room.  As soon as her eyes land on Tobin a smile comes over her face.

Alex takes the seat next to Tobin.  “I’m so sorry, babe.  They wanted me to watch a little bit of their afternoon practice.”  

“I thought that’s what you were doing tomorrow.”

“It is but they wanted me to see today’s too because they were doing weights.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t know til they led me in and then I was meeting like half the team.  They might have told me but I didn’t understand them if they did.”  She grabs for the full cup in front of her.

“It’s fine.”  Alex takes a sip.  “That’s probably cold.”

Alex grimaces, forcefully swallows the sip and sets the cup down with a grimace.  “Yep.  Can I get a new one or do you want to go back to the hotel?”

“Whatever you want.”

Alex smiles, kissing Tobin’s cheek, then standing up to get a new cup.  Alex sits down with her fresh cup, “Ahhh.  That’s much better.”

“So tell me...how was it?” Tobin asks.

“I actually kinda loved it,” Alex admits, staring back into the brown eyes, watching for a reaction.  Alex sees a flash of disappointment before it is hidden behind a smile.

“That’s great,” Tobin honestly tells her.  “When do I get my jersey?”

“I still haven’t decided I’m going to play.”  Alex sips at her coffee.

“Why not?  You just said you loved it.”

“I know, but that’s not everything.  I love you more.  I can play soccer in Portland.  I can -”

“Alex,” Tobin cuts in.  “As much as I love Portland and how great of a soccer city it is, it’s nothing like here.  Not only is this team stacked but you’re playing stacked teams to.  You’re going to get national level training everyday.  You want to do this.  I know you do.  You’re not going to use me as an excuse for not doing this.  I won’t let you.”

“But Tobin-” Alex starts.

“Alex.  Are you going to seriously turn this down because of us?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Okay.  I want you to think about it while we’re here.  Don’t make any decisions yet...either way.  We’ll talk about it after we visit Allie.  Let’s enjoy this trip and make decisions later.  We can talk about it if you want but nothing decisive.  I’m just going to act like you’re already coming here because I need to start thinking like that for when it happens.”

Alex nods and slides her hand over to Tobin’s leg.  “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Tobin grins.  “Now tell me everything.”

~~~

Alex looks over at Tobin as they slowly walk back to their hotel after dinner.  “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Tobin holds out her arm for Alex who happily accepts it.  “That was just a lot.  They’re really trying to woo you.”

“Only you can woo me,” Alex smirks, side eyeing Tobin as her fingers gently rub over Tobin’s flexed bicep.

“You better be careful when you come here babe.  They like to drink a lot and you get handsy when you’re drunk.”

Alex turns her head to Tobin fully.  “Isn’t that when I call you and you’re supposed to help me out.”

Tobin chuckles and leans into Alex’s side slightly.  “What if I’m busy?”

Alex pouts, “You’re not going to help get me off?”

“Babe,” Tobin scolds, looking around.  

“Tobs, please.”  Alex leans down into Tobin, her lips brushing her ear.  “Please.”  Alex reaches over and places her hand on Tobin’s stomach, sliding down to where her jeans start and pulling on her belt loop.

Tobin rolls her eyes, “Let’s go back to the hotel, then you can undress me.”  Alex’s smile spreads wide across her face.  She grabs Tobin’s hand and starts walking faster, stumbling slightly as Tobin jumps to catch up.  

In almost no time Alex is jamming her finger repeatedly against the up button for the elevator.   Tobin watches Alex from a few feet away, her eyes taking in her slim, muscular frame.  Her heels making her calves more defined.

The elevator opens and the two step in.  Tobin reaches over and undoes the buttons of Alex’s coat.  “We’re going to have to make some French memories for you to rely on, on those lonely nights.”

Alex nods, biting her lip and staring deep into Tobin’s eyes.  “The more the better.”

~~~

Tobin sits next to Alex, looking out the window and tapping her fingers mindlessly against the armrest as their plane climbs higher and higher.  Alex reaches over and grabs her hand, stilling it.  Tobin turns and Alex says, “I think I’m ready to talk.”

Tobin chuckles.  “I know I said I wanted you to think about it until we left but I figured you would at least wait till we landed or maybe got over the ocean.”  

Alex shakes her head, “I’m ready.  I’ve been ready.”

“So you want to do it,” Tobin says knowingly.

Alex leans over and kisses Tobin’s cheek.  “Tell me no and I won’t.”

“Alex, you should do it,” Tobin smiles.  “I’ll support you across the pond, stay up late or wake up early to watch your games, and maybe even come visit you.”

“You better come visit.  I know your schedule.”

“I don’t have too much time to visit you.”

“Maybe you could come before the SheBelieves Cup and then we can fly back together.”

Tobin nods, reaching down into her backpack.  “I got you a present.”

Alex looks down, seeing Tobin holding a book out to her.  “They sell books about learning French in France?”

Tobin shakes her head, “No. I bought this when we were at your parent’s house.”

“You’ve been carrying it around this whole time?”

“Yeah,” Tobin nods.  “Babe, I know you better than you know yourself.  I’ve known you were gonna come here as soon as you told me.”

Alex smiles and opens the book.  Tobin grabs her pillow, resting it against the window and closing her eyes.  Alex looks through the book for a few minutes, finding a few soccer words and trying to memorize them.  

When the captain comes on the speakers telling them they can move around Tobin reaches down into her bag for her laptop.  As she waits for it to start Alex leans over, whispering, “Have we ever joined the club?”

“What club?” Tobin asks, not fully paying attention as she plugs her headphones in.

Alex leans a little closer, nibbling on Tobin’s ear.  “The mile high club,” she whispers seductively.

Tobin rolls her eyes and puts her headphones in. Alex kisses Tobin’s cheek, rubbing her upper thigh.  “Babe. Come on.  At least wait till we’re far enough away that they won’t turn around and kick us off the plane.”

Alex pouts, “Fine.  But can you at least pay attention to me.”  Tobin nods, pulling her headphone out.  “So I’ve asked a few people and no one actually knows the answer.”  Tobin hums in response so Alex continues.  “When did we first say I love you?”

Tobin smiles.  “Why didn’t you just ask me that?”

Alex shrugs, “I kinda am trying to figure out some stuff without asking you ya know.  I feel like I’ve had to rely on you for so much.  I just want to get some things on my own.”

Tobin tilts her head to the side.  “But Lex, I want you to rely on me.  I want you ask me these things.”  Alex nods.  “Okay so let’s see.  The first real I love you was in September I think, so a few months after we had started dating.  I’m not sure exactly when because I’m pretty sure we both kept saying it by accident but the first time we actually acknowledged it was this one day.  It was nice out and we had gone to the field near the apartments we lived in and were just goofing around.” Tobin smiles at the memory.  “You were trying to get the ball from me and after an illegal hold were able to kick it away.”  Tobin takes Alex’s hand, holding it tightly.  “I started laughing, mostly because you were tickling me, but whatever, and when I turned around you kissed me.”  Alex smiles, picturing the scene Tobin is describing.  “And so once we stopped, you kinda just said it, then I said it back and the rest is history.”

“I wish I could remember that,” Alex says, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“I’ll never forget it.  Ask me anything and I’ll try to help you paint a picture of every last detail.”

“Did you cry that time?” Alex asks.

Tobin shakes her head.  “No.”

“So just the second, first time?”

Tobin turns more in her seat so she’s fully facing Alex.  “When you hit your head I thought I lost you.  You woke up and I had part of you back.  Not the part that wanted to be with me but the part that meant you were still alive.  Still in my life in some capacity.  During that time I might not have been all that important to you but you were the only thing that mattered to me.”

“You were still important, Tobs.” Alex reaches up and strokes Tobin’s cheek.

“Okay well it didn’t really feel that way.”  Alex starts to open her mouth but Tobin interjects.  “Not that I’m blaming you for that.  It was scary and everything was new.  I’m just trying to explain my feelings.”  Alex nods for her to continue.  “So I accidentally saw that Serv had texted you and I didn’t see the whole text but I thought you were getting back together with him.  The part of you that used to be mine was gone.  The part of you that wanted to spend the rest of your life with me was gone.  When you said I love you after Rio, it came back.  I never stopped loving you but I always feared that you wouldn’t start loving me again.”

“Even after we started dating?” Alex asks, shocked that she didn’t know this already.

“Yeah.  I didn’t know what was going to happen and we had the Olympics going on.  After people started blaming me for you missing I thought something might happen.  I knew you didn’t blame me but it couldn’t have gone much worse.  It was being talked about and you have to deal with the media so much that I thought it might just be easier for you if you didn’t have to put up with me on top of it all.”

“Put up with you?” Alex asks incredulously.  “Tobin, I love you.  It will never be like that.”

Tobin shrugs, “I know that now.  I just worried that you were never going to love me again.  So when you said it it made me really happy and I cried.”

Alex leans over to press her lips hard against Tobin’s.  “I want to make you happy for the rest of our lives.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think? and don't forget i'm happily accepting suggestions for this. i have a general idea of where this is going but since I don't have a direct story line ideas help.


	4. Party Planning

“So,” Cindy asks when Tobin walks into the kitchen after her shower.  “How do you feel about Alex going to France?”

Tobin walks over to the kitchen table, sitting down and looking at her mom as she cooks dinner.  “I mean I think it’s a great opportunity for her.  I’m going to miss her.  But we have a few camps that she’ll come home for.”

“But will you be okay?  She’s still going to be gone for months.  Even when she first lost her memory you were still with her.”

Tobin sadly smiles but nods.  “Yeah.  I know she’s coming home in a few months and that’s just what I need to focus on.”

They hear the front door open and Tobin turns as Alex walks into the house with Norbert and her dad.  Alex smiles as she walks over and presses a kiss to Tobin’s lips.  

“How was your walk?”

“Pretty nice,” Alex replies as she sits down.  “I might have even convinced your dad to come visit me in France.”

Tobin raises her eyebrows and turns towards her parents.  “Oh, well then.”

He shrugs his shoulders.  “We’ve been talking about visiting Paris for a long time and if Alex is going to be in France we might as well.”

Tobin rolls her eyes and turns towards Alex.  “Ready?”

Alex nods and reaches for Tobin’s laptop that sits on the kitchen table.  She slides closer to Tobin and starts opening endless amounts of windows with different flower arrangements.  Twenty minutes into their in depth discussion on how many flowers do they actually need Alex’s phone starts buzzing.

She picks it up, checking who it is.  “Oh, I need to take this.  It’s about Lyon.  Keep looking.”  Alex points at the screen and eyeing Tobin as she accepts the call.  Tobin waits for her to walk away before opening instagram.  She quickly types in Alex’s name and starts scrolling down.

She stops after what seems like forever and clicks on the picture she was looking for.  She smiles at the photo of Alex, in a long, white dress, dramatically pouting about her foot being in a boot.

She’s pulled out of her thoughts when Alex sits back down.  Tobin quickly reaches out, to try and switch windows but Alex is already looking at the screen. “Babe?” she turns to Tobin, given her a questioning look.

“Yeah,” Tobin responds, trying to play it cool.

“This is from,” Alex looks back at the screen quickly, “148 weeks ago.  Why are you looking at it?”

Tobin shrugs, “I don’t know.  You were at a wedding and I was trying to find inspiration.”

Alex rolls her eyes.  “Sure,” she says sarcastically.  After seeing if Tobin is going to add anything more Alex decides to take a different approach.  “Did you come with me?”

“No.  I had just gotten back from the Algarve and we figured I should go see my parents instead cause preseason was about to start.”

Alex leans over and rests her head on Tobin’s shoulder.  “So why are you staring at it now?”

Tobin slowly blows out the air in her lungs.  Once she inhales again she rests her cheek on the top of Alex’s head.  “I was thinking about our wedding and you in a white dress.  I really liked this dress and,” Tobin shrugs.  “I don’t know.  I just can’t wait to marry you.”

“You’ve been waiting a long time,” Alex states.  Alex can feel Tobin nodding her head.  “What do you like about the dress?”

“It’s simple.  I know you’re going to go a little more elegant than that just cause that’s not really a wedding dress.”

Alex nods.  “Is that the kind of dress you would want to wear?”

“I was probably going to have Allie or Cheney help me with that.  Just let them fight it out and put on whatever they give me.”

Alex laughs.  “Would love to see that.”

Tobin reaches out and touches her computer, causing the picture to disappear and Alex’s instagram sitting open.  Before Tobin can click back to the flowers they were looking at Alex places her hand on top of Tobin’s.  

“What did you think of the photo shoot?” Alex asks seriously, staring at the screen.

Tobin starts laughing.  “Gonna have to be a little more specific their babe.”

Alex points at the picture in the row above the one Tobin had been looking at, showing three different shots of her in bikinis.

“Oh, well I was glad it wasn’t paint this time.”

Alex smiles before asking, “Did you go with me?”

“Nooo,” Tobin drags out the word. “Together we decided it would be best if I stayed very far away from you.”

“What?” Alex jumps back staring at Tobin.

Tobin looks at Alex confused.  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Did we break up at some point?” The slight horror in Alex’s face causes Tobin to reach out and take her hand.

“No, babe.  Basically the opposite.” Tobin smiles to herself, looking up to make sure her parents closed the door before going outside.  “We decided that we didn’t need everyone seeing the amount of hickies I would leave all over your body.”  Tobin leans over to press her lips against Alex’s ear.  “Photoshop can only do so much and island life does things to me.”

Alex smirks as Tobin pulls back, “I’ll keep that in mind for our honeymoon.”  Tobin winks and Alex’s smile grows even more.

~~~

“Hey, Tobs,” Alex rolls over in bed to face Tobin.

Tobin opens one eye, not amused that Alex is interrupting nap time.

“I think you’re right.” Tobin moans so Alex continues.  “About waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” Tobin groans, closing her eye.

“For the wedding.  I don’t think I can wait a year.”

Tobin lays still for a moment and Alex reaches over, thinking she fell asleep but stops when Tobin lets out a long sigh and sits up.  “Lex, we can’t really do it during the season and we’re not going to want to do it right after cause that’s a shit ton of planning and then you’re already at like Halloween which I know you won’t do so what’s one more month.  It could be November if you want.  We just need to see what the Fifa windows are, try to work around them and just tell Jill.”  

Alex nods, “You’re right.”

“We want the team there and honestly I think most of them would come over a friendly and she knows that.  We’ll figure it out.”

Alex slides closer to Tobin, snuggling into her side.  “Okay.”  

They lay quiet for a few minutes, Tobin almost drifting back to sleep when she hears, “Hey, Tobs,” again.

“Yes, my love,” she says, more as a reminder to herself as to why she hasn’t kicked Alex out of bed than a term of affection.

“Can we go to the mall tomorrow?  I need to get some stuff for France.”

Tobin’s eyes remain shut as she responds, “Sure.”

“Also do you think we could stop in a dress shop or something just so I can get an idea of what you really like?”

“Hey, Al?” Tobin asks softly.

Alex looks up at her, “Yeah?”

“Can you just pretend that I will do whatever you want so that I can take a nap?”

Alex chuckles softly, “Sorry, babe.”  Alex tilts her head and kisses the side of her neck before sitting up.  “Go to sleep.  I’m just going to look at some more wedding stuff.”

“‘K,” Tobin sleepily mumbles.

“We’ll talk more when you wake up.  I have some ideas that I really want to talk about.”

Tobin hums her response, shifting her head into Alex’s lap.

~~~

Alex looks through the rack, trying to find something that would be perfect for her wedding day.  She gives up and walks over to the changing room, calling into the stall.  “You find anything?”

“Yeah,” Tobin calls back after a few seconds.  “I think this will work.”

“Okay.  Can you take care of that them?  I just remembered something that I forgot.”

“Uh, yeah sure.  I’ll meet you at the food court?”

“Sounds perfect.  I love you.”

~~~

Alex plops down in the seat across from Tobin, exhausted.  She places the shopping bags she was carrying down on an empty seat, Tobin’s bags already on the other side.

“We have a party to plan,” she exclaims.

“So you’re sure you want to do it on New Year’s Eve?” Tobin asks.

Alex nods.  “That’s like the best time.  We’ll throw an amazing New Year’s Eve party.  I have to leave a few days after anyways and I want to spend that time with just you so it makes more sense to do it then.”

Tobin nods, “So it’s a multi-dimensional party?  A little going away party mixed in with everything else.”

Alex shrugs, “Kinda but I don’t want that to be the focus.  That’s not really what I want to be thinking about that night.  Just you.”

Tobin smiles back at her.  “Alright missy.  This was your idea.  Do you have any plans on where this is going to take place?”

“Uh…,” Alex stalls.  “Not yet.  We should just call some places and see if they have anything open.  It’s pretty last minute.”

“We’ll figure something out.” Tobin reaches over and grabs her hand.

~~~

“Okay, I found a place.  It’s kinda fancier than we were planning but we can just tell everyone it’s actually casual,” Tobin says after she pulls the phone from her ear, looking across the kitchen table at Alex who was quickly typing away.  “They had a cancellation last minute so it’s not a bad price either.”

“That’s great,” Alex smiles. “Ash said she could DJ.”

“You already told her?”

“I asked if she knew any DJs in Florida for New Years and she said she would do it,” Alex answers.

“I think we need to actually start telling everyone else.  If they want to come they need time to book a flight and hotel room or something.  And so they don’t kill me since you’re leaving for another continent.”

“Yeah.  How should we tell them?  It’s kinda too late to do a formal invitation.”

Tobin nods, “I’ll write an email and we can just send it to whoever we need to.”

Alex nods as Tobin starts typing.  “I don’t really know what to write.”

Alex stands and leans over Tobin’s shoulder.  After reading the line about her leaving for France followed by nothing she wraps her arms around Tobin’s neck and starts telling her what to type.  “Okay so just end it by telling them that if they can’t make it that’s cool, cause we know it’s super last minute and it’s the holidays and I’ll see them at camp or something.  Oh and don’t forget to add something about it not being super fancy.”

Tobin finished typing, signing it from the both of them.  “Alright now just gotta figure out who to invite to this kickin’ New Year’s Eve party.”

“Why don’t we start with the people that would kill us if we don’t invite them,” Alex offers.

“Good point.”  Tobin types in Kelley’s and Allie’s emails in.  After twenty minutes they have their list of friends and teammates, both national and club, that they’re inviting.

“Now I should probably go tell my mom,” Tobin says.

“Yeah.  I haven’t actually told my parents yet either.  You go do that and I’ll call them.  You think your parents would be cool if mine crashed here.  I think I would rather get a hotel room with you that night anyways,” Alex hints.

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t be but if they’re not we can get them a different room.  Your sisters too.  I assume they’ll want to come and send you off properly.”

Alex laughs thinking about it.  “Probably.”


	5. You Little Shits

Tobin wakes up to the incessant buzzing of numerous text messages flooding her phone and Alex’s.  She turns her head and looks at the face of the sleeping woman behind her.  She reaches down and softly rubs the arms holding her close.

“Babe,” Tobin whispers.

“Mmm,” Alex whines, still asleep.

“We either need to turn off our phones or deal with this.”  Alex buries herself deeper into Tobin’s hair, not acknowledging Tobin at all.  Tobin rolls her eyes and tries to pull Alex’s arm from her waist only to have Alex tighten her hold.  “Babe.  I just want to turn our phones off.  They’re going crazy.”

Alex whines again but releases Tobin, rolling over to her side of the bed to turn off her phone.  She blocks her eyes from the blinding light.  “Why did we decide to have it send at midnight again?” Alex groans as her phone continues to buzz in her hand either from a call or text.

“Because it went with the New Year them and so we didn’t have to deal with all this craziness at once.  We just kinda forget that our phones would still be attacked even if we were asleep.”  Tobin plucks the phone out of Alex’s hand and turns it to silent.  “We can deal with them all in the morning.”  She places the phone on the night stand then lays down next to Alex, pressing her front into Alex’s back. 

Alex relaxes in Tobin’s embrace and soon both are sleeping peacefully again.

~~~

Alex blinks against the sunlight entering the room through the curtain.  She rolls over, blindly reaching her hand out for Tobin.  She instead finds Norbert’s furry head instead and smiles.  She carefully leans in and kisses him, finally opening her eyes.  Tobin is on his other side, mouth slightly parted as her even breaths slowly cause her chest to rise and fall.  

Alex slips out of bed, grabbing her toothbrush then heading out the door, Norbert following close behind.  She lets him out and stands at the glass doors watching him sniff around the Heath’s backyard.  She walks to the bathroom to rinse her mouth out.  When she comes back she finds Tobin’s mom standing at the door letting Norbert in.

“Thanks,” Alex says as she walks over.  “And thanks again for letting me stay here for so long.”

“You’re always welcome here, sweetheart.  Even when Tobin’s not here.”  Alex smiles as they walk into the kitchen together.  “So do you guys have plans for today?”

“Um we’re going to need to make a list of everything we need to do between now and New Years.”

Cindy nods, “You guys didn’t give yourself a lot of time to prep for this.”

“No we didn’t,” Alex laughs.  “But we both want to do it and we’ll do a bigger one next year.”  She starts getting Norbert’s breakfast out.  “I need to fly back to Portland for a bit since I’m leaving for France from here.”

“Is Tobin going with you?” Cindy asks as she starts the coffee maker.

“I don’t know yet.  I haven’t asked her.  We’ve kinda been bouncing around.  Lot to do.”  She places the bowl down and Norbert starts munching away.  She hears the soft sound of bare feet walking through the house and she glances up to Tobin wearing an old UNC shirt and a pair of boxers.  

“Coffee,” Tobing grumbles.  The two other women laugh as she climbs up onto the seat.

“Almost, it’s still brewing, honey.”

Alex walks over behind Tobin, leaning around to kiss her cheek.  “Good morning.”

“Coffee,” Tobin groans, leaning back onto Alex.  Alex watches Cindy grab a mug and start pouring the black liquid inside.  Soon it is pushed across the counter to Tobin who opens her eyes just enough to grab the cup and bring it to her lips.  

Alex waits until she has taken a few sips.  “You good now?”

Tobin nods, setting it down.  She turns her head and smiles lazily up at Alex. “Hi, baby.”

“Hi.”

“You were gone when I woke up,” Tobin complains.

“Had to feed our boy.  You know how he gets.”  Alex accepts the cup of coffee being offered to her.  She takes a few sips, then places the mug back down.  

An hour later, the three Heaths plus Alex are finishing their breakfast when the phone rings.  Jeff gets up to answer it.  

“Hello, He- ...Who?...Okay.  Hold on, Kelley.”  

Tobin and Alex turn their attention from their conversation to the phone being held out to them.

“She doesn’t sound happy,” he says before walking to the sink with their plates.

The two soccer players look at each other.  Tobin puts it on speaker.  “Hello?” she asks timidly.

“YOU LITTLE SHITS.  WHY HAVEN’T YOU BEEN ANSWERING YOUR PHONES.  I HAD TO CALL YOUR PARENTS.”

“Kel,” Alex voices in the few seconds Kelley needs to take a breath.

“YOU TOLD ME IN AN EMAIL?” Kelley continues to shout.

“Kel, can you take it down a notch?” Tobin asks.

“I don’t know, Tobin.  How could you not tell me?”

“We did tell you.  We invited you,” Alex tries to rationalize.

“Yeah,” Kelley says sarcastically.  “You invited me to _your wedding_ with a fucking email.”

“We decided yesterday.  We had to get a few things sorted out.”

“I didn’t even get a personal email.”  The sadness in Kelley’s voice evident.

“I’m sorry,” Tobin says, her eyes going wide.  “Kel, hold on a second.”

“Are you seriously putti-” Tobin takes the phone off speaker and starts whispering into Alex’s ear.  After a few seconds Tobin pulls back and Alex looks at her.

“Are you sure? You know that’s going to be a shit show right?”

“Yeah, but a funny shit show full of love.”

They both turn to the phone in Tobin’s hand as they hear Kelley trying to shout at them.  Alex nods, “Okay, but we’re going to need to give her guidelines.”

Tobin puts the phone back on speaker, magnifying Kelley’s long wail.  “Kel shut up.  We need to ask you something.”

“What?” Kelley grumbles.  

“Well first, are you coming?” Tobin asks, staring down at the phone.

“Am I co-? Am I coming?  Are you fucking serious?  Of course I’m coming.  I’m not going to miss this.”

“Okay, then we want to ask you something,” Tobin smiles about to continue when Kelley starts talking again.

“You can’t make me choose between the two of you.  One of you has to pick.  The other can have Allie, or whoever.”

Tobin rolls her eyes, “Kel it has nothing to do with that.”

“What?” Kelley asks appalled.  “You’re not going to ask me to be your M.O.H.?”

Tobin looks up at Alex, “You want to tell her?”

“I don’t care.  It was your idea.”

“I think you should do it,” Tobin smirks, knowing just how Kelley is going to react.  She is proven right, a millisecond later.

“HOLY SHIT.  One of you just tell me.”

Tobin nods to Alex.  “Okay, Kel.” Alex takes a deep breath.  “We were wondering if you wanted to officiate.”

The line is silent.  Alex and Tobin look at each other, confused.

“Kel?” Tobin questions.

“Uh-huh,” Kelley responds, nearly speechless.

“If you don’t want to that’s cool.  We can ask someone else,” Tobin offers.

“Nonononononono.  I want to.  I want to.  Don’t ask anyone else.  I’ll go online and get ordained today.”

The two laugh and Alex says, “We love you Kel.”

“I love you guys too.  This is going to be amazing”

“Okay we need to go Kel, but just remember...we don’t want to be roasted at our wedding,” Alex reminds her.

“I know.  I can be serious.”

“Bye, Kel.”

“Bye.”

~~~

Tobin and Alex sit cross legged on the bed, facing each other.  “I’m scared,” Tobin tells her, looking down at their phones.

“Yeah.  Me too,” Alex agrees, “but we gotta do this.  You wanna go first?”

“I guess. I’m gonna start with Kelley since we don’t need to reply.”  Tobin reaches out and grabs her phone.  She opens her messages.  “Okay most of them are in a group text so that’s good.”  Alex slides next to her as she clicks on Kelley’s name and turns the phone so Alex can see too.

**Kelley O': Is this email serious?**

**Kelley O': Tobin**

**Kelley O': Tobin**

**Kelley O': TOBIN**

**Kelley O': Are you and Alex eloping**

**Kelley O': Is she preggo?**

**Kelley O': Why are you not responding?????**

**Kelley O': Are you two fucking?**

**Kelley O': Stop having sex for a minute and answer my call**

**Kelley O': I’m obviously coming**

**Kelley O’: I’m still confused why this is happening so suddenly**

**Kelley O’: And it seems like everyone else is surprised too**

**Kelley O’: Going with the pregnant theory**

Tobin looks up at Alex.  “She does know I can’t get you pregnant, right?”

Alex laughs and leans over, “I hope so,” pressing a soft kiss to Tobin’s lips.  “Who’s next?”

Tobin looks down at her phone.  “Allie, I guess.”  Alex rests her head on Tobin’s shoulder as Tobin opens Allie’s texts.

**Harry: HAR you tell me through an email that your wedding is in like two weeks?!?!?!????**

**Harry: When was this decided?**

**Harry: Why didn’t you call me**

**Harry: The place it’s at looks super nice**

**Harry: What do you mean by not fancy?**

**Harry: You guys are at least wearing dresses right**

**Harry: What colors are you going with**

**Harry: Nvm I’ll ask Alex**

Tobin rolls her eyes and starts typing.

**Tobin: Yes. We’re going to wear dresses.  Just not super fancy ones.  Wear whatever you want.  You’re comin right**

They look through a few more less aggressive texts.  

**Ash: I can’t believe I’m going to DJ your wedding**

**Lindsey: TOBBSSSS this is going to be lit**

**Mana: AHHH I can’t make it.  I’m going home.  We need to celebrate when I see you both again**

**Kling: Fuck I’m with my family.  I’m taking you out when I see you**

Tobin lets out a long breath, resting her cheek on the top of Alex’s head.  “I’m not ready for the group ones yet.”

“Want to look at mine?”

“Yeah,” Tobin mumbles, dropping her phone.

Alex reaches out and opens her phone.  “Kelley first.”

**Kel: Alex Alex Alex Alex**

**Kel: You’re getting married**

**Kel: Are you pregnant?**

**Kel: Call me back**

**Kel: You decide to marry my best friend of 15 years and don’t even have the decency to call me or send me a written invitation**

**Kel: Stop fucking for five seconds**

**Kel: Does this have to do with France?**

Alex looks over at Tobin.  “Why does she always think we’re having sex?”

Tobin chuckles.  “I mean we kinda have sex alot, babe?”

Alex pulls back.  “Too much?”  Her face unable to hide the hurt that’s apparent in her voice.

“No, no, no.”  Tobin puts her hand on Alex’s kneed.  “It could never be too much.  Just we have sex and then, Kelley, like a child, wants attention.”  Tobin presses a soft kiss to Alex’s neck, below her ear.  She pulls back just slightly then leans back in and presses another one to Alex’s skin just under the previous spot.  Her lips slowly kiss lower and lower.

Tobin rolls onto her knees and pushes Alex back into the pillows.  Alex brings her hand up, running it through Tobin’s loose hair.  “Babe,” she sighs, pulling at her hair.  “We have a lot to do.”

Tobin hums, reaching behind her back and pulling on the sleeves of her sweatshirt.  Alex smiles and tilts her head back so Tobin can kiss her easier.  

“Babe,” Alex softly moans.  “We need to- to make a list… ah-” Tobin’s fingers slip under the hem of Alex’s shirt and lightly trace up her skin.

Tobin pulls back slightly, smirking, and looks down at Alex.  “I think a list of all the places I can kiss you would be a great list.”

Alex takes a deep breath and opens her eyes.  “Your parents are like twenty feet away.”

Tobin’s smirk grows.  “That hasn’t stopped us before.”

Alex rolls her eyes and pulls Tobin down, kissing her hard.  Tobin’s eyes stay closed when Alex pulls away, her lip in full pout and a soft whimper escaping.

“We need to figure out how many people are coming.”

Tobin groans and falls next to Alex, still half on top of her fiance, face buried in a pillow.  

Alex grabs her phone and decides to open her group text with Kelley, Allie, and Christen.

**Kelley: HOLY FUCK!!! When did this happen??**

**Christen: What’s with the shouting Kel**

**Kelley: Check your email**

**Kelley: They have gone rogue**

**Allie: What’s going on**

**Christen: OMG a wedding**

**Allie: My email’s not loading**

**Allie: A wedding???**

**Allie: OMG THEY’RE GETTING MARRIED**

**Kelley: And neither of them are answering their phones**

**Christen: Isn’t it like 12:30 there?  They’re probably sleeping**

**Allie: Or fucking**

**Kelley: They’re so doing it**

**Christen: So what does not too fancy mean.  Tobin wrote it so it could literally mean flip flops and sweats**

**Allie: Alex would never go for that**

**Allie: I think it means just like something nice because they didn’t have time to get real wedding dresses**

**Allie: At least I don’t think they had time**

**Allie: Alex was still super indecisive last week**

**Christen: Okay good.  Wasn’t sure I could show up to a wedding in jeans**

**Kelley: I have called both of them multiple times and nothing.  What is this?**

**Allie: Two things Kel**

**Allie: 1. You know they can go all night**

**Allie: 2. They sent the email this late on purpose so they wouldn’t have to pick up**

**Kelley: Argh.  I’m going to bed.  Alex if you see this call me!!!! NOW**

**Kelley: It’s been 10 hours and still nothing.  I’m calling Tobin’s dad**

**Christen: How do you have her dad’s number**

**Christen: Wait.  More importantly why do you have his number**

Alex drops her phone and wraps her arms around Tobin.  “Tobs?”  Alex can hear her response, muffled by the pillow.  “I need to go home and get some stuff for France.”

Tobin lifts her head and looks at Alex.  “Okay.  When are you going?”

“I figured we could go there together.  We haven’t been home in so long.  We can leave Norbs here with your parents.”

“We’d have the whole house to ourselves,” Tobin smirks.

Alex laughs.  “Yes. Yes we would.  If you come with me I promise we can do some things that we haven’t done in a long time.”  Tobin’s hips uncontrollably buck down and Alex smiles.  “So when do you want to go?”

Tobin replies before Alex even has time to close her mouth.  “Now?  Yesterday?  Today?”

Alex leans over and presses a kiss to Tobin’s forehead.  “What about in a few days?  We need to get as much wedding stuff done as possible.”

“How much stuff do we need to do?”

“Food, cake, photographer are the main things.”

“Okay well my dad and brother can do photos so that’s all set.”

“Okay and food?”

“We can go to Walmart or something and just make a bunch of pb ‘n j’s.”

Alex rolls her eyes and pushes her off.  “That’s our goal for today.  Find a caterer.”

Tobin sticks out her bottom lip and reaches under her back, pulling out her vibrating cell phone.  “It’s Allie.”

Alex nods and grabs the clipboard with the list of people they had invited as Tobin answers it.  She picks up her own phone and starts putting either a check or an ‘x’ next to people’s names.

“Hey, Lex.  What about plus ones?”

“Uh.  I don’t know.  Why?”

“Bati wants to come.”

“Oh he can come.  I guess if people ask they bring whoever they want.”

Tobin nods and goes back to her conversation with Allie, Alex half listening.

~~~

After fishing the shoebox out of the closet in guest room that Tobin had lived in for seven months the two sat on their living room couch going through the pictures inside.  “What about this one?” Alex holds up a picture of the two of them sitting at a table, the ocean in the background.

Tobin smiles and takes the picture from Alex’s hand.  “That’s from when I asked you to marry me.  I took you to dinner first and we had the waitress take a picture.”

“Okay, that’s the yes pile.”  Alex leans forward and places it on the top of a growing pile of pictures on their coffee table.

Tobin laughs, “Babe.  What is the point of having a no or maybe pile if every picture goes in the yes pile.”

“Every picture of you is adorable.  They all should be in the slideshow.”  Tobin shakes her head while Alex looks down at the shoebox in between them still mostly full of photos.  “Wait.  How did that get in here?”

“What do you mean?”

“We never came home between the engagement and me getting hurt.  How did this end up in the box?”

Tobin bites her lip.  “I sorta printed it out when we got home.  That’s kinda how most of these photos were printed out.  The rest are ones I took down around the house and I guess just never put back up.”

Alex looks at Tobin’s soft features, “What did you do with them?”

“Uh...I normally looked at them before going to bed...and when I woke up… and whenever I got sad.”

Alex moves the box as she slides over, sitting on Tobin’s lap and wrapping her arms around the woman’s neck.  “Baby, I’m so sorry.  I hate thinking about how much this hurt you.”

Tobin shakes her head, “It’s not your fault, Lex.  Don’t worry about it.  I got you back.”

Alex bobs her head and kisses Tobin’s jaw.  She places the box in her lap and starts looking through the stack of pictures.  After a few she smirks and looks up at Tobin as she pulls one out.  “And what exactly did you think about when looking at this one.”  Alex holds up a picture from her first Sport’s Illustrated photoshoot.

Tobin rolls her eyes, “I just put all the pictures of you that I had in the box.”

“Tobin,” Alex exclaims,  “I am naked in this picture.”

“You have paint on,” she reasons

Alex shakes her head at Tobin.  “So you’re telling me you just had this for no particular reason?”

“Honestly?” Tobin asks, causing Alex to nod.  “That’s not really my thing.”  

Alex face falls slightly.  “You mean between my injury and what… August you didn’t get off?”

Tobin shrugs, “Yeah.  I guess.”

“Why not?  Did you not want to.”

Tobin looks into Alex’s eyes for a few seconds before answering.  “I tried once but it didn’t work.  I wanted you.”

“When was that?”

“Uh, it was right after the season started so April I guess.”

“Any particular reason?” Alex asks, nuzzling her head into Tobin’s neck.

“You went out to some bar and I heard you talking to Mana about meeting someone.  I was kinda trying to prove to myself that I could move on.”

Alex pulls back and looks up, seeing the sadness on Tobin’s face.  “Did you want to move on?”

Tobin shakes her head.  “No.  I wanted to be able to though if that makes since.”

Alex reaches up and cups Tobin’s cheeks in her hand.  “But you couldn’t do it.  Baby, can I show you how much I love you.”

Tobin turns her head.  “I guess.”

Alex bites her lip. “You guess?”  She leans in and starts placing soft kisses all over Tobin’s neck and jaw.  “Well if you don’t want me to,” she says between kisses.

Tobin grabs the box and places it on the couch before putting one arm behind her back and the other under her legs.  Tobin quickly stands up and carries Alex to their bedroom.

~~~

Alex’s eyes flutter open and she looks at the naked woman in her arms.  She sits up slightly causing Tobin to roll over and throw an arm around her waist.  Alex looks around, finding her shirt at the end of the bed.  She reaches out with her foot and curls her toes into the fabric picking it up.  She pulls it on once it is in her hand.  Looking down she sees Tobin’s light brown eyes looking up at her.

“Sorry.  I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Tobin weakly smiles and kisses Alex’s bare thigh.  “It’s cool.  Do we need to go out to get stuff or can I just lay here all day.”

“Tobs, we go back to Florida tomorrow.  You don’t want to do anything in Portland?”

“Nothing that involves leaving the house....or getting dressed,” Tobin states while playing with the hem of the shirt Alex had just pulled on.

“Babe, I promise we’ll have lots and lots of sex before we leave but I need to pack and ship some stuff.”

Tobin shakes her head.  “Don’t ship stuff yet.  If you pack it up I can send it after January camp.  You don’t even have an apartment yet.”

Alex sighs.  “I know.”  Tobin’s hand starts to sneak under her shirt but is stopped when Alex grabs the wrist before it disappears.  “I still need to pack and we need to get some more wedding stuff done.”

Tobin whimpers but rolls out of bed heading towards their bathroom.  “Fine, but I need to shower first.”  She looks over at Alex with a smirk before shutting the door halfway.

Alex stares at the door, listening to the water being turned on.  She stays still for a couple of minutes until steam starts to filter out of the door.  “Weak,” she says softly to herself as she plants her feet on the floor and stands.  She strides to the door, pulling off her shirt in the process.  Seconds later she is stepping into the shower and shutting the door behind her while her eyes rake up and down Tobin’s glistening body.

~~~

“Okay,” Alex groans, slumping into the kitchen.  Tobin looks up from the sink where she is washing their dishes from breakfast.  “Everything is packed and we can leave whenever.”

“Did you call the Uber?” Tobin asks.

Alex points at her. “No.  I will do that now.”  She pulls her phone out and quickly pushes her finger against the screen a few times.  “Okay.  Fifteen minutes.”

Tobin sets the last bowl in the drying rack and leans her back into the counter.  “Hey, babe?”

Alex smiles and takes the few steps separating them, her hands landing on Tobin’s hips.  “We don’t have time for a quick one babe.”

Tobin raises her eyebrow.  “Um… we totally do...but that’s not where I was going with this.  I wanted to ask about yesterday.”

“What about?”

“You were surprised that I had gone the whole time without anything happening and I had been kinda wondering…”

“No,” Alex fills in the blank.  “I didn’t go the whole time without getting off.”

Tobin nods, looking down to where there hips are connected.  “Were you alone?”

Alex searches Tobin’s face.  “Baby of course I was alone.”

“Okay, cause like we never actually talked about it in detail.”

“The only thing I did with anyone else during that time was make out with the guy from the bar.”  Tobin nods, looking back up into Alex’s worrying eyes.  “How long have you been thinking about this?”

“Since that night,” she mumbles sheepishly.

“Baby,” Alex coos, taking Tobin’s face between her hands.  “Nothing happened.  I swear.”

Tobin nods again.  “I believe you.”

Alex slides her hands back and wraps her arms around Tobin’s neck tightly, trying to show her all the love she has for her.

After a few minutes Tobin pulls back with a eye crinkling smile.  “So if you were by yourself, what were you thinking about?”

Alex shoves her shoulder and takes a step back.  Her phone thankfully vibrates in her hand. “Car’s here.”

~~~

Tobin drops the phone on the table before falling back onto the couch with Alex.  “That’s everything.”

“Yeah, now all we have to do is get married.”   Norbert hops up next to Tobin and starts pawing at her until she pets him.

“Do you think we should ask your sisters to be in the wedding?  They kinda gave me a weird look when I said we weren’t having bridesmaids.”

Tobin shakes her head adamantly.  “They can be in the next one.  This is just for us.  They’re lucky they’re even invited.”  

Alex rolls her eyes, “Like you would have had this wedding without your sisters.”

Tobin groans and leans into Alex.  “Touche.”

They sit silently for a while, the house quiet with the rest of the Heath’s out doing last minute Christmas preparations.

“Guess what?” Alex asks, breaking the silence.

Tobin groans, but plays along.  “What?”

“We’re going to be married in less than a week,” Alex exclaims.

Tobin smiles, her eyes still closed.  “I know babe.  Then even a head injury won’t be able to stop you from being mine.”

“I was always yours.  I just didn’t know it.”

“I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never forget.”

“Can’t wait,” Alex says before kissing the top of Tobin’s head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who saw that coming?


	6. The Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long. I've been having a some writing problems. I know most of you had high hopes for this chapter, as did I, so... sorry, but it wasn't getting any better.

“WAKE UP.”

Alex groans as she looks at Kelley jumping on her bed.  “If you give me a black eye, I will kill you.”

The next jump, Kelley brings her legs up and comes down in a sitting position.  “You wouldn’t kill the person that’s going to marry you.”

Alex glances over at the clock on the bedside table.  “Kel,” she groans, “my alarm is going off in an hour.”

“How can you sleep on a day like this?  There is so much to do.”

“Kel, the day is all blocked out.”

“Fine,” Kelley shrugs and throws her feet off the bed.  “Go back to sleep and you can get your present from Tobs when you wake up.”  Kelley is about to stand up when Alex’s arm reaches out and grabs Kelley’s hand.  “I knew that would get you.”

There is a knock on the door and Kelley’s face lights up. As she bounds over to answer it, Alex sits up and rubs the sleep out of her eyes.  She hears Kelley thank someone and then sees her walking back in with a tray of food.

“Breakfast is here,” Kelley calls as she places it on the small desk.  “Okay so I might have slightly exaggerated on Tobin getting you a present.”

Alex looks at her confused while walking over, “What do you mean?”

“Well...I ordered this.  Tobin’s going to be paying for it.”

“Kel,” Alex rolls her eyes.  “I booked the room.”

“Oh.  Well,” Kelley places her hand on the silver plate cover, pulling it off, “surprise.”

~~~

Kelley looks in the mirror at Alex as they both get their hair done.  “Tobin is like dying.”

Alex holds up her phone, “I can tell.  She keeps asking when she can see me.”

Kelley watches as another strand of hair is pinned back.  “She knows you’re supposed to wait right?”

“She thinks that’s antiquated and was only a rule because of arranged marriages.”

Kelley’s phone vibrates in her hand and she looks down at it. She smiles at the picture of Tobin’s pouting face, hair and makeup done.  

**Kelley O’: Three hours buddy then you can see her forever**

**Tobin: That’s so long**

~~~

Alex taps her fingers impatiently against her legs.  

“Alex, calm down.  She’s going to be here soon,” Pam tries to sooth, tucking a piece of hair behind Alex’s ear.

“I know.  I just don’t like waiting,” Alex groans as her sisters run over.

“Okay,” Jeri chirps, “she’s here.”

Alex starts to turn around but Jeri holds her shoulders and Jeni pulls out a face mask.  “Not yet, Al.”

Alex whimpers but lets them carefully place the mask over her eyes and hair.  She feels her sisters each grab an arm and start leading her around the car.  She can tell when the reach the grass by the change under her raised sandals.  After a minute of walking she comes to a stop and is slowly turned around.  She can hear others only a few feet away and know Tobin is one of them.

“Let me do this slowly,” Jeni commands, “or it’s going to ruin your hair.”  The face mask is slowly pulled away from her eyes.  Alex smiles as her soon to be brother-in-law takes a few pictures of her.  She sees a her dad, watery eyed, smiling at her as her sisters make unnoticable adjustments to her hair.

They each give her small hug, Jeni stepping back while Jeri takes her hand and reaches it back behind her.  She hears Katie talking to Tobin and a second later their fingers touche.  They quickly grapple, holding onto the other’s hand.  They slowly back up into each other, their backs touching.  

“Hi,” Tobin says as she rubs her thumb over Alex’s.

Alex hears the clicking of photos around her but ignores the sound.  “Hi, baby.”

“Can we turn around now?” Tobin asks softly.

Alex takes a deep breath, squeezing Tobin’s hand.  “On the count of three?”

“One,” Tobin responds as answer.

“Two.”

“Three.”

They both slowly turn around, hands still linked.  Neither can hear anything going on around them as they first see each other. Tobin’s eyes water as she takes everything in.  Their eyes meet and they can’t help but just smile at each other.

After numerous photos are taken, the trance is finally broken as the families switch which woman they are dotting over.  Alex hugs Tobin’s parents and siblings, never letting her eyes stay off of Tobin for more than a few seconds.

~~~

Kelley looks out over the small group that has gathered for the wedding.  She smoothes her dress, then raises her hands to quiet the crowd.  “Well, it looks like we’re about to get started.  If you could please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.”

She turns around, picks up the sound system remote and presses play, starting the music.  The guests all rise and Alex and Tobin, each with their father, walk down opposite sides of their guests.  When they meet in the middle a few feet in front of Kelley they each turn to hug their own father before hugging their soon to be father-in-law.

Then, finally, they join hands and take a few steps towards Kelley, stopping in front of her.  Kelley holds her hands out to them and after giving her a weird look they each take one of her hands.  She kisses each hand and squeezes them before looking out at her audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the long awaited union of Talex.”  She pauses for applause that doesn’t come.

“Kel, come on,” Tobin urges.

Kelley nods, “I stand here before you to officially join two people in a celebration of love.  Love that lasts forever.”  A smirk comes over her face, “I want to start off by telling you all a story about these two beautiful people that stand up here with me.”

Alex rolls her eyes at Tobin who smirks in response and squeezes Alex’s hand.

“So,” Kelley starts, “as you all know, our little Alex took a spill last year.”

“Kel,” Alex warns.

Kelley raises her hand and looks at Alex. “You put me in charge.  Now you have to listen to my story about your love.”  She looks at the two brides, “Love,” she repeats softly, causing a few giggles to come from the small crowd.

Tobin holds in a laugh and bows her head.

“Good.  Okay so as I was saying before being so rudely interrupted,” she glances at Alex.  “I have a few fun little stories to share that Alex doesn’t remember.”

“Remind me why I let this happen?” Alex whispers to Tobin.

Tobin smirks and looks to Kelley as she starts her story.  “The first time I ever really noticed that Alex might be crushing on our little Tobin we were in Portugal for the Algarve.  Alex was tying her shoes for her almost the whole trip and Tobin was lazy enough to let it happen.  Once or twice would have been nothin’ to think twice about but once a day, tying or untying her shoes or carrying her bag.”  Kelley smiles at Alex.  “You just wanted to be closer to her and didn’t care what you had to do to get close.  Even if it meant being near her stinky feet.”

The crowd chuckles as Tobin glares at Kelley.

“Okay, okay.  So stuff like this continued until Alex reached her boiling point and kissed Tobin, we all know that, no need to rehash it.  Now here’s what you don’t know.  Their first date was funny because they were both freaking out.  I got so many calls and texts that day I feel like I was there.”  She looks at the two in front of her.  “The amount of outfits I was shown that day and worried texts about going to a painting class, something they had done before numerous times without me getting a single message.   I think it took a little while until they were no longer nervous about their dates and that shows just how much they meant to one another even at the beginning.  They didn’t want to ruin something that was so special to them.

“I feel so lucky to have seen them grow as a couple.  They were close before everything but once they got together they were connected.  They were inseparable.”  Kelley’s smile grows but she swallows it and resumes her Allie approved speech.

The rest of the ceremony carries on in a typical Kelley fashion.  The two continue staring into eachother’s eyes as they say their ‘I dos’ and slip the newly bought wedding rings onto the other’s finger.  Tobin wipes away a few tears and glances down at the silver band on Alex’s finger.  She brings the hand up to her lips and kisses over the warm metal.  

“Hey, hey, hey,” Kelley calls out.  “I didn’t give you permission for that yet.” Tobin pulls back, looking up into Alex’s eyes with a huge smile.  She winks before turning to Kelley.  Kelley smiles and nods.  “Okay,” she smirks and looking around at the gathered guests before looking at her two friends in front of her.  “I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may now kiss the wife.”

Tobin smiles, releases Alex’s hand and places her hands on Alex’s hips.  Alex raises her hands to Tobin’s arm and neck, pulling her in.  Their lips meet and the only thing they can focus on is the other as their family and friends cheer around them.  The newly married couple finally pulls apart and is quickly pulled into a hug with a tearful Kelley.  

“I love you guys so much,” she tells them before letting go.

They smile at her but before they can say anything they are pulled into hugs by family members and friends as they move to the couple who never release their connected hands.  After a few minutes of accepting hugs and congratulations Jeffrey is able to lead them away to take a few photographs.  They barely listen to him as they gaze into each other’s eyes.

“Hi, wife,” Tobin smirks.

Alex brings her hands up, cupping Tobin’s cheeks and pulling her in for another kiss.  Tobin pulls away after the smile on her face makes it impossible to press her lips against Alex’s.  “I love you,” Alex whispers.  Tobin leans in to kiss her again but stops when she hears a bark.  The two turn and smile as Norbert drags a stumbling Ashlyn over by way of the leash.  The two immediately lean down and rub his head.

Alex reaches over to his collar and smiles at the black bowtie clipped on then smiles up at Ashlyn.  “Cute.”

“Had to dress the boy up,” Ashlyn smiles.  “His moms were getting married.  He’s no longer a bastard child.”

Alex reaches out and slaps Ashlyn’s legs.  Ashlyn just laughs and hands the leash to Tobin as she stands up.  The keeper pulls the woman into a tight hug.

Alex kisses Norbert’s nose, avoiding his tongue, and then stands up.  Ashlyn steps into Alex next, whispering, “Congratulations,” into her ear.

“Pookie,” Allie calls as Ashlyn drops her arms.  The three turn and see the blonde walking over.  “I told you to get them and then come back so you, the dj, could start the party.”  Allie stops and gives the newlyweds a joint hug.  She pulls back and looks between the two.  “Okay so we’re giving you guys thirty minutes before you need to join us at the party.”

Allie takes the leash from Tobin and loops her arm through Ashlyn’s.  “There’s a sitting room in there and stuff.  Just don’t take too long.”


	7. January

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been so long, don't really have an excuse, just life

Tobin falls back onto the couch, eyes focused on the game in front of her. Norbert hops up on the couch and rests his head on her lap. She places her hand on his head and softly strokes between his eyes.

Part way through the second half, her phone buzzes in her hand and she looks down. Her face lights up and she looks down at Norbert. “Your mamas calling buddy.” She mutes the game and accepts the Facetime call. She waits a second for Alex’s face to fill the screen before greeting her wife. “Hey babe.”

“Hi,” Alex chirps. “What are you up too?” Tobin flips the screen shows Alex the game in front of her. “Is it a good game or can you take a little break?”

“I just turned it on for something to watch,” Tobin explains, turning the phone down to Norbert. “We went on a long walk and needed a little rest.”

“Aww. Hi Norbert,” Alex coos. He opens his eyes, confused. “How are you my sweet boy? Mama misses you so much but I’m going to see you in a week. I miss you so much but don’t worry, I’m going to bring you the best toy ever and give you lots of loves.” 

Alex is about to continue when Tobin turns the phone back, “Babe, do you wanna tell me what’s up?”

Alex pouts for a second but then smiles again, “I signed a lease. I move in tomorrow.”

Tobin smiles, “That’s great Lex. Tell me everything.”

Alex rolls over and rests her phone against the pillows on the bed in the hotel she’s been in all week. “So it’s really close to where we had coffee that one time. So when you walk in it’s like a big hallway and if you go straight it’s the kitchen. The kitchen is cute. It’s like enclosed by the counter and part of it has two seats where you could sit. Then it has huge windows everywhere.”

Tobin listens to Alex describe her apartment in detail. She eventually looks up and notices the game is over. “Babe,” she whispers, interrupting Alex’s description of her bedroom. When she stops Tobin smiles, “You can show me everything once you move in.”

Alex nods, “Sorry. I just wish you were here with me.”

“Surprise. I’m outside your door,” Tobin jokes.

“I wish,” Alex sighs. Her face than contorts and she leans closer to where she has her propped up on the pillows. “I really wish you were here right now.”

Tobin immediately recognizes Alex’s expression and smiles, “And why’s that?”

“Well,” Alex pushes up onto her knees and pulls her shirt off, “it’s been a week without you and I miss your hands all over me.”

Tobin smirks, “And what could I do for you?”

Alex lays down, one arm supporting her while she reaches behind her with the other, unclipping her bra. Tobin chews on her lip and watches the straps fall from Alex’s shoulders. 

“You like this?” Alex asks seductively, bending her knees up and crossing her ankles.

“Mmhm,” Tobin nods. Alex looks at Tobin with a devious smile and sits up, exposing her chest. “You...you’re,” Tobin breathes heavy, her eyes looking over Alex’s chest. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Alex smirks. “Like what you see?” 

“I always like seeing you, especially like this.”

“So remember how you promised to help me out whenever I needed it?” Alex asks while twirling a strand of her hair.

“Again, I don’t think that’s exactly how that conversation went.”

“Maybe but I kinda like when you to tell me what to do.” She grabs the phone and turns back over, leaning back against the pillows. “Please baby,” she begs.

Tobin rolls her eyes then looks down at Norbert. She then looks back up with a smile, “Of course my love, but can we maybe make this more of a once, twice, or even three times a week instead of twice a day because it’s only been a week and I’ve almost been caught twice.”

Alex nod sheepishly and leans forward for a moment. “I’ll make sure you’re alone from now on.”

“That’s really all I can ask,” Tobin agrees her face turning serious. “Now finished getting undressed.”

Alex smirks and holds her underwear in front of the camera. “Already done.”

~~~

Tobin quickly reaches over, turning her alarm off so she doesn’t wake up her sleeping roommate. She slides out of bed and quickly slips on Nike sweatpants and an oversized Lyon long sleeve she had bought in France. She grabs her prepacked backpack and phone before slipping out the door. She squints at the bright light and trudges towards the team snack/entertainment room. Tobin slips the key card in that she had acquired last night and pushes the door open. She blindly slaps at the wall and flips the light switch. She walks to the tv and after shrugging off her backpack pulls out her HDMI cord and hooks it up to the tv. She then plops down on the couch and waits for her computer to turn on.

Tobin glances at the clock,  5:15. Her lock screen comes up and she smiles at the photo of her and Alex from the wedding. Alex stares back at her with a huge smile. It takes Tobin a few seconds before she unlocks her computer. She yawns as she opens up a few windows, looking for a working stream. “Come on, come on,” she mutters.

She reaches over blindly for the phone while she waits for something to load. She presses 0 and once someone responds, orders two coffees from room service. She then opens Twitter on her computer and smiles at what Alex had posted. “Good luck babe,” she whispers as the stream starts.

Tobin smiles at the blurry image of Alex on her screen. She grabs her cell phone and takes a picture of her pixelated wife, sending it to Alex. She sets the computer on the table and grabs a foam roller. She starts to roll out her legs when there’s a knock on the door. She scrambles to her feet and pulls the door open to a young man with a cart.

“Coffee.”

Tobin smiles and opens the door wider. “Yes. Thank you.”

He walks in and places the tray of coffees on the table, he glances at the television for a second where Tobin has the stream showing, before turning back to Tobin. “Will that be all mam?”

Tobin internally groans but nods and reaches into the pockets of her sweatpants. She pulls a few dollars out of her pocket and hands them over, “Yes. Thank you.”

He smiles and turns to the door, “Enjoy your game.”

Tobin smiles as the door clicks closed and she picks up one of the cups and pours the coffee into it. She quickly raises it to her lips with her eyes on the screen. She sits back down on the couch to watch the game.

The ball is crossed in from the endline. Tobin sits on the edge of her seat as she sees Alex running in from the box. She catches it with her forehead, trying to get it into the goal but it has too much spin on it and the ball barely changes course. Tobin’s shoulders fall and she lets out the breath. “Come on, babe.”

Twenty minutes into the game Alex runs for a through ball at the edge of the box. She crosses it in front of the face of the goal, it bounces off a defender’s toe, tripping up the keeper, Le Sommer kicks it in for the first goal of the game. 

Tobin slaps her hands against the couch repeatedly. “Yes, baby.” She smiles as they show the replay. “Yes.”

She watches the rest of the game, slowly drinking her coffee. She smiles and picks up her phone, sending a text for Alex to see later. 

**Tobin: You had a great game Lex. You were so close on some of those goals. They’ll come soon. The assist though was great. I can’t wait to see you and just hold you in my arms. I’ve missed you so much and I’m glad we get this week together. Norbert misses you too and can’t wait to slobber all over you. I really am so proud of you babe. You played amazing just like I know you always do. I love you and can’t wait to see you**

~~~

Tobin sits at the table with Alyssa, both slowly chewing on their breakfast in a comfortable silence. The door opens and she sees the rest of the keepers walk in. After grabbing their food they sit down, Ashlyn sits next to Tobin, looking at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I watched Alex’s game this morning.”

Adrianna lets out a low whistle. “What time was that?”

“Game started at five thirty.” Tobin holds up the mug in her hand. “This is my fourth today.”

“Well it’s a good thing we had a light day yesterday,” Ashlyn jokes.

“Probably shouldn’t tell Dawn that,” Alyssa says, “she might make you redo all the fitness testing.”

“How’d she do?” Jane asks, looking up from her breakfast.

Tobin smiles at the young goalkeeper. “She actually did really well. Got an assist on their first goal. She didn’t score but she had a lot of great chances.”

“She play full ninety?” Ashlyn asks.

Tobin shakes her head, “About seventy.”

~~~

Tobin sits on her bed, compression pants on. She pokes at Luke’s belly, trying to distract herself from looking at her phone every five seconds. She leans over and blows a raspberry onto his chubby, little tummy, sending the boy into a fit of giggles. 

“Have you and Alex talked about kids?” Amy asks from the floor after taking a picture and sending it to Alex.

Tobin looks over, shrugging. “Kinda. I don’t remember if we were dating or not. I don’t think so but she asked me about it and stuff and I told her what our plan had been. Adopt now and maybe after next cycle or when we retire have one.”

“What’d she say?”

Tobin tickles Luke’s belly. “I don’t know, we haven’t really talked about it in months.”

“Well,” Amy smiles, “you’re married now. You should talk about it.”

Tobin sighs, “Yeah, but I should probably wait until she’s home and that she doesn’t want to go back next season.”

Amy sits up a little straighter, “She’s going back?”

Tobin shrugs, still softly tickling Luke. “We don’t know yet but if she wants to that’s another year and a half with both our season and theirs.”

“You could tell her no,” Amy comments, “she would listen.”

Tobin lays back on the bed, the arm not around Luke falling off the side of the bed. “I know but if it’s something she wants I don’t want to stop her.”

“Tobin, you’re allowed to have an opinion.”

“I know,” Tobin sighs.

There’s a knock on the door and Tobin hops up. She shuffles over to the door, pulling it open. Her shoulders fall when Kelley is on the other side. She looks out into the hallway and finds it empty. “Hey, Kel,” she says dejectedly.

Kelley smirks, “Good to see you too. I take it Alex isn’t here yet.”

Tobin nods. “Her flight hasn’t even landed yet.”

“Then why are you looking for her? Also Why didn’t you go to the airport to pick her up?”

Tobin pouts, “Alex told me not to. She’s going to see her parents and Norbs cause basically when she get’s here we’re going to have to go to practice. So I’m just waiting, painstakingly, painfully waiting. It’s excruciating.”

“Wow, Tobs,” Amy calls from inside the room. “Glad you enjoy my company so much.” 

Tobin smiles and turns back. She shuffles into the room and flops back down onto the bed. “Luke and I are going to take a nap.” She looks down at her legs. “As soon as my legs deflate.

~~~

Tobin sits at dinner, eating her food absentmindedly, her eyes trained on the door she had walked through twenty minutes ago. She looks down at her phone, waiting for a new text to tell her Alex is finally here. She sets it down as she takes in a sip of water and turns to Lindsey, next to her. Her phone vibrates and she quickly grabs at it, her face falling when she looks at the screen.

**Harry: Calm down and smile. Your wife is coming**

Tobin looks up at Allie across the table who smiles at her. “Hate you,” Tobin barks. Allie smirks at Tobin before looking over her shoulder, her smile growing.

Before Tobin can turn around, two hands cover her eyes. Tobin tries to turn but the hands stay in front of her face. “Moe or Christen or Kelley or whoever knock it off, I’m trying to eat.” Tobin hears laughing around the table and reaches her hands up to pull the hands away. She feels a ring on the left hand and scrunches her face slightly as she pats at the ring, feeling it. It then clicks in her brain and she quickly stands up, pushing her chair back as she does. She turns seeing Alex a few feet away now after being knocked back by Tobin’s chair. In seconds, Tobin has Alex in a tight hug, spinning her in a circle. 

Alex giggles as she holds onto Tobin’s shoulders. “Hi babe.”

Tobin looks at Alex, beaming up at her. Their teammates start clinking their glasses and Tobin drops Alex to her feet. She doesn’t even mind everyone’s watching them when she leans in and leans into Alex’s lips. Their kiss isn’t long but it is a start to their reunion. When they pull apart Emily starts to repeatedly call out, “Speech. Speech. Speech.” 

Alex’s head falls to Tobin’s shoulder, shaking her head. Tobin wraps her arms tightly around Alex and looks around the room. “My  _ wife  _ and I,” she pauses for some more cheering, “would really appreciate it if y’all would shut the fuck up.” She turns to where Jess is sitting, looking down at Jerimiah next to her.” Sorry, Jess.”

“Babe.” Alex kisses Tobin’s neck softly, bringing her attention back to her. 

Tobin tilts her head and kisses Alex’s forehead. “Are you hungry?” She turns towards her seat. “There’s... uh...bread.”

“I ate with my parents,” Alex tells her.

“Do you uh wanna go see other people now so you can come snuggle with me later?”

Alex nods and presses her lips to Tobin’s again. “I missed you so much.” 

Tobin holds her tight for a few seconds more before releasing her. She watches Alex quickly get swallowed in a joint hug with Ashlyn and Kelley. Tobin sits back down but is unable to do anything but turn around and watch Alex wander between the tables. 

Ten minutes later Alex walks over with her bags and holds her hand out. “Ready Tobs?”

Tobin quickly stands and holds up a peace sign to the table. “See you guys in the A M.”

Alex looks at Allie, “Or in like twenty minutes when you come to the room.”

Tobin turns to Allie, “Give us thirty at least.” Alex slaps at Tobin’s shoulder and Tobin holds up her hands in surrender, smirking at Allie. “Sorry, she’s right. We won’t need that much time, just give us five minutes.”

“If I didn’t miss you so much I would go upstairs with Allie and you could go to bed alone.”

“You’re a married woman,” Tobin states, taking one of Alex’s bags. “Let’s go lay down. I just want to hold you.” Alex smiles and follows after Tobin.

~~~

Alex looks from her bed to where Tobin and Allie are sitting between practices. “So,” Tobin says, looking down at her bare feet, “I’m sure it’s worse for you but did you ever want to tell people we got married cause I keep getting asks about it.”

Alex smiles, “You want the whole world to know I’m locked down?”

“I mean you’re wandering through Europe. I don’t want people trying.”

Alex grabs her phone and starts looking. “Which picture should I use?” Alex asks.

“I didn’t mean right now.”

“Why not?” She looks up with a huge smile. “What about this one?” Alex turns the phone to show Allie and Tobin a picture of Tobin’s back and Alex’s face from the wedding. Tobin’s left hand is visible as Alex slides on the ring. Tobin shrugs and crosses her legs in front of her. Alex smiles and she quickly posts the picture to Instagram. 

Tobin hops up and switches beds, falling next to Alex. Once Alex is done typing Tobin takes her hand. She splays her fingers out and covers Alex’s left hand so their rings are showing. Tobin holds her phone above their hand and takes a picture. She posts it then tosses her phone onto the bed.

~~~

Tobin walks into breakfast and wraps her arms around Alex from behind. “So you still haven’t told me what you want to do today. I was thinking about heading to the beach with everyone.”

Alex smiles and turns in her seat. “I was thinking about visiting my parents for lunch and maybe going to go get some coffee.” 

“Oh, okay,” her smile dropping slightly.

“You should definitely go though, you love the beach.” Alex presses a soft kiss to Tobin’s lips. “Did you want to watch a movie tonight?”

Tobin nods, “Sure.” She stands up and heads to the buffet where the food is set up on the other side of the room. Allie walks up next to her with a new plate. Tobin looks over at her as she hands over the spoon for eggs. “So did you guys have fun last night?”

Allie smiles, “Yeah, we went out to dinner then after we came back to watch the Bachelor.”

Tobin glances over her shoulder to Alex who is still sitting at the table. “Did she say anything?”

“About what?” Allie asked confused, setting her plate down and turning to Tobin.

“About me or France or I don’t know, anything that I should know.”

“She talked about how much she misses you, too much detail if you ask me. She showed us pictures of her apartment and talked a little bit about that stuff. I don’t know, what do you want to know?”

Tobin shrugs, “I’m not sure. I just feel like something’s off.”

“That’s only because you guys have been separated and now you guys are married.” 

Tobin nods, looking down at her plate. “I guess.” She picks her head back up with a smile and turns, walking back towards Alex. She sits down and starts eating. A few bites in she feels Alex’s hand on her thigh, rubbing up and down softly. She glances over to Alex who is talking to Kelley.

“Tobs,” Ashlyn calls. “Do you want to leave at eleven?”

Tobin nods, “Yeah sure. Who’s coming?”

“Uh,” Ashlyn looks around, “Ali, Linds, Moe, Christen, Crys, JJ, Lyss, and K.”

“Cool,” Tobin says, bringing her fork up to her mouth.

Alex moves her hand from Tobin’s leg and underneath her hair. Tobin smiles and looks to Alex as she massages her neck. Alex smiles back and leans forward, pressing her lips against Tobin’s. “I love you,” she whispers when she pulls away.

“I love you too.”

~~~

**Lex: All ready. Come over**

Tobin smiles and rolls out of bed. She walks into the bathroom, quickly brushing her teeth. She then walks down the hall heading for Alex’s room. She raises her hand and knocks on the door. She glances up and down the hall, biting her lip when she hears noise behind the door. It’s pulled open and Tobin’s face falls when she sees not Alex, but Allie.

“Hey Har,” Allie smiles. “Ready for a movie?”

“Uh, yeah,” Tobin looks behind Allie as she steps in. “So, uh, what are we watching?” she asks, now seeing a few more of their teammates lounging around the room. Her eyes settle on Alex who gives her a huge smile and pats the empty bed next to her. 

Tobin climbs over Ashlyn’s legs to the bed crawls up next to Alex. Alex sits up and rests her head on Tobin’s shoulder. Tobin rests her cheek against the top of Alex’s head. Allie starts the movie than gets on her own bed next to Christen. Tobin looks down when Alex places her hand on Tobin’s stomach and intertwines their legs.

They barely move for the rest of the movie. When the credits start rolling, Tobin kisses the top of Alex’s head then slides out from under her. “See you tomorrow?”

Alex looks up at her confused, “Do you wanna stay for a little bit?”

Tobin shakes her head, “I’m kinda tired, think I’m just gonna head to bed.”

“Oh,” Alex sits up. “Alright.” She puckers her lips and tilts her head up. 

Tobin smiles and bends down, pressing her lips against Alex’s. She holds herself there for a few seconds before standing back up. “Night, Lex. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

~~~

Alex leans forward in the car, pressing her lips against Tobin’s ear. “Wanna warm up with me when we get back to the hotel?”

Tobin nods absentmindedly, “Another movie?”

“I was thinking shower,” Alex whispers, wrapping her arms around Tobin’s neck.

Tobin shrugs, “Sure. If ya want.” She than leans forward, out of Alex’s embrace, towards Carli. Alex watches Tobin for the rest of their ride back to the hotel.

By the time Alex is able to climb out of the backrow of the car Tobin is already twenty feet away, jogging to catch up to a group from the other car. She adjusts the straps on her backpack and slowly walks in with Christen. As she steps through the hotel doors she watches Tobin disappear into the elevator and lets out an audible sigh.

“What’s up?” Christen asks.

“Tobin’s just been acting kinda weird and I don’t know why.”

“I think she misses you.”

“But I’m here now,” Alex insists, pushing the button for the elevator.

Christen shrugs. “I think she kinda just wants alone time with you. Like when I told her about going to the beach she asked if we could go to the spot where you proposed and I know you had other plans but I think she was probably a little disappointed that you weren’t there.”

“So why didn’t she tell me?”

“Didn’t she ask you to come to the beach.”

The elevator opens and they step in. “Yeah, but I wanted to do something else. It was a little cold out and I just wanted to hang out.”

Christen nods, “Okay so she wasn’t going to tell you to do something you didn’t want to do.” They wait in silence until they get to their floor. They step off, Alex turning left, instead of right. “Good luck,” Christen calls as she heads to her room, across the hall from Alex’s.

Alex smiles and stops in front of Tobin’s door. She raises her hand and knocks a few times. A minute later Tobin opens the door, her head turned away. “I’ve got it. Stop bitching.” She turns and sees Alex, “Hey, babe.” Alex steps into the room, hearing the shower on. Alex presses her lips to Tobin before walking further into the room. “What’s up?”Tobin asks as she closes the door.

Alex sits down on Tobin’s bed and looks up at her. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to the beach with you.” 

Tobin sits down next to her, “It’s cool. You wanted to go see your parents.”

“Yeah but they could have met me there. I wish you had told me you were going to where I proposed.”

Tobin shrugs, “It’s whatever.”

“I know that’s not the only thing you were upset about, can you tell me what else?”

Tobin looks down at her hand, reaching over for Alex’s. “I had kinda thought our movie night was going to be private and not involve a lot of movie watching.”

Alex grins. “Oh were you?” Tobin nods, biting her lip. “And what were we gonna do instead of watch the movie?” 

Tobin leans into Alex, pressing her lips against Alex’s. Her tongue quickly slips out of her mouth and into Alex’s. Alex is pushed onto her back and within seconds Tobin is straddling Alex’s waist. She peels off her soaked shirt, tossing it aside. She leans down and attaches her lips to Alex’s neck. Alex’s hands tightly grip Tobin’s hips, her fingers digging into the soft flesh. 

Alex’s breath gets faster. She slides her hand up Tobin’s spine, cupping her neck and holding her. Tobin bites down softly. She then slides her hand under Alex’s back and pulls her fully onto the bed. Alex pushes up onto her elbows, finding Tobin’s lips with her own. Tobin uses one hand to support herself while the other finds the hem of Alex’s shirt. 

“Sit up,” Tobin husks against Alex’s lips. The shirt is pulled over Alex’s head and discarded with Tobin’s in less than ten seconds. Tobin pushes herself against Alex before it has even hit the floor, their slick skin rubbing against each other.

“Tobin,” Alex softly moans, her hands slipping into the back of Tobin’s shorts, digging her nails in. She drags her nails up Tobin again, catching on her sports bra. She dips her nails under the band and starts to lift. Tobin pulls back just enough so Alex can get it up over her head but as she tries to find Alex’s lips again Alex ducks her head and moves to Tobin’s collar bone. Tobin grabs ahold of Alex’s ponytail, holding her in place. Her head falls back as she lets out a long, soft moan, feeling Alex’s nails lightly rake up her stomach. Alex pulls back and tilts her head up to Tobin’s ear, “Lay down for me.” 

Tobin obediently falls towards the pillows, one leg still draped over Alex’s lap. Alex runs her hand up Tobin’s leg, slipping under the shorts. She leans over, kissing up Tobin’s torso. Tobin rolls her hips up into Alex, just as the bathroom door rips open.

“Who was at the door, Tobs?” Kelley asks.

Alex quickly pushes herself up, pushing her elbow into Tobin’s groin in the process. Tobin groans loudly and sits up, holding her thigh. Kelley stands at the foot of the bed wrapped in a towel, her eyes darting between the two. Alex pushes a pillow into Tobin’s hands to cover her chest.

“Kel, stop gawking,” Tobin breathes, still holding the point where Alex’s elbow had dug in.

“You guys do know I was in the shower right? Like you didn’t forget that somehow?” Kelley bends over and pulls a sweatshirt out of Tobin’s suitcase and tosses it to her. “You both need to remember the boundaries of if the roommate is in everything stays on.” Alex grabs another pillow and chucks it at Kelley. Kelley holds up one hand, the other holding her towel. “Just let me get dressed real quick and then you guys can have the room.”

“Thanks, Kel,” Tobin answered. She then turns to Alex and reaches over for her arm. “Now you have some fucking bony elbows. Shit babe.”

Alex leans over and presses a soft kiss to Tobin’s cheek. “Sorry.” She leans over to Tobin’s ear. “I’ll kiss it and make it better.”

Tobin nods, “That’ll work.”

“Could you guys just wait until I leave before continuing,” Kelley groans, now half dressed.

“Hurry up,” Tobin argues back. 

A few minutes later, Kelley stands in front of them again. “I’m giving you two hours and as always… stay off my bed.”

“Thanks,” Alex says, as Kelley turns.

“Have fun you two,” Kelley says as she pulls open the door.

As soon as the door clicks shut Alex pulls the pillow away from Tobin’s chest and climbs back onto her lap. With a palm flat against her chest, Alex pushes Tobin back into the pillows, she then crosses her arms across her torso and pulls her sports bra up over her head. “So do you wanna warm up with me in the shower?”

~~~

Tobin stands a few steps away as Alex talks to the ticket agent behind the counter. Once she has checked her bags she walks back over to Tobin and links their arms. “I don’t want to leave you.” 

“I’ll see you soon,” Tobin reassures. They walk in silence to the security line. Tobin turns and wraps her arms around her tightly. “I’m going to miss you.” Alex buries her head into Tobin’s neck. They stand like this for over a minute before breaking apart. Tobin looks into Alex’s eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Alex reaches up and tucks some loose hair behind her ear. She then leans in to press a searing kiss to Tobin’s lips. Alex pulls back, taking a deep breath, and adjusting her bag on her shoulder. “I should go.”

Tobin nods, “Have a good flight. Text me until you can’t.”

“Send me pictures of Norbs when you get back.”

Tobin nods then pulls Alex in for another kiss. “I love you,” she repeats when she pulls away. 

Alex squeezes Tobin’s hand. “I love you.” She leans in quickly, one more time, pressing a kiss to Tobin’s lips then walks into the security line, glancing back at Tobin once. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well...i think i put one or two prompts in this so hope they were what you wanted  
> also in case you missed it, I added a little something to the series for anyone interested in how they got together


	8. France

Alex sits in her kitchen, her eyes glued to her phone while she waits for a text telling her that her parents are here.  She looks around quickly making sure she had cleaned everything.  Her phone buzzes and lights up refocusing her attention.  She hops up as she looks at the screen but is surprised when it’s not either of her parents calling her, but a Face Time from Tobin.  She answers the call with a smile.

“Hey babe,” Alex smiles when Tobin’s face fills her phone screen.

“Hey.  Are they there yet?”  Tobin asks.  

Alex shakes her head.  “Their plane landed like two hours ago.  I’m just waiting for them to text me that they’re downstairs.”

“Cool,” Tobin smiles, looking away from her phone for a moment and nodding before refocusing on Alex.  

Alex looks at the white, stone wall behind her.  Alex scrunches her face and leans in.  “Where are you?”

“Uh, downtown,” Tobin replies.  “Lindsey wanted a donut so I thought I would call you while she went in.”

“Oh.  I thought she went home… like to Colorado.  When did she get back?” Alex asks confused.

“Uh, yesterday.  She uh… she did go home but uh... had to come back to ya know... grab a few things and we’re uh…-”

The phone vibrates in Alex’s hand and a text from her mom comes in.  “Oh, they’re here,” she chirps, saving Tobin.  “I gotta go downstairs.  I love you.  I’ll call you later.”

Tobin nods with a huge smile.  “I love you too.”

Alex hangs up and grabs her keys, jogging down stairs to see her parents.  She bursts out the door looking around.  She sees them instantly and runs over, one arm around each of them.  She holds them tightly for a minute before pulling away.  “You’re here.”  She looks down at the ground, Where are your bags?”

“We stopped at the hotel first to drop them off.”

“Oh, okay.  Want to see my apartment, well my flat?”  Alex turns and pulls open the door to her building.

“Wait,” her dad says with a grin.  Alex turns back, holding the door.  “We have a surprise for you first.”

Alex looks at them confused.  “Uh, what is it?”  Her parents both smile at her devilishly.   “What is it?” she repeats impatiently.

Her dad looks to his left, down the street and Alex turns to follow his gaze.  Her eyes stop on a lanky figure leaning against the wall with two suitcases at her feet.  Alex leaps down the two steps and sprints the twenty feet to Tobin, barrelling into her.  

Tobin laughs as she stumbles backward catching Alex in her arms.  “Surprise.”

Alex pulls back slightly and looks at her confused.  “I thought you were coming next week.”  Alex looks to her right at the wall from their earlier call.  “You lied to me.”

Tobin nods, kissing Alex as her apology.  They pull apart after Mike coughs loudly.  Tobin smirks as Alex looks at her with droopy eyes.  

“Let’s go see your flat,” Tobin directs, reaching for her bags.  “Also it’s cool that I stay with you right?  I could get a room at the hotel but I figured since I’m kinda your wife you wouldn’t mind if we had a sleepover.”

Alex grins widely, “Of course,” and leads them inside.

~~~

“You sure you don’t want to come?”  Alex asks as she brushes out her hair, looking at Tobin through the mirror.  

Tobin shakes her head, “No.  Me and your mom are going to have us a night out on the town.  I was already able to avoid the cameras at your game and that’s my plan for the rest of my time here.  I can’t really do that when you’re going out specifically to film your own little reality show.

“It’s not a reality show,” Alex argues.  “It’s like five minutes on YouTube.”

Tobin shrugs, “Same thing.”

“Not really,” Alex sighs as sets the brush down and turns around.  “How do I look?”

Tobin bites her lip and Alex holds up a disapproving finger, “No.  I just finished getting ready and if you keep looking at me like that, I won’t leave.”  Alex bites her lip.  “My parents are going to be here in like five minutes.”

Tobin slowly runs her tongue over her lower lip as her eyes graze up and down Alex’s body.  Once she’s done her eyes meet Alex’s.  “Hurry home,” she smirks.

Alex laughs and walks over to Tobin, placing a light kiss while Tobin reaches around and squeezes her butt.

Alex shoves at Tobin's shoulder but smiles and holds her hand out.  They walk into the kitchen and Tobin glances over at Alex, “Babe.”  Alex turns and Tobin slides her arms low around Alex's waist.  She stares up into her wife’s eyes for a moment before continuing.  “I don't know if I told you this but I’m proud of you.  So much has happened in the past year and you've been resilient.  You're amazing to me in every way.” Tobin squeezes her a little tighter.  “I'm proud to get to call you mine.”

Alex smiles and slides her hand behind Tobin's neck.  “Tobs,” Alex responds at a lot for words.

“I love you,” Tobin quickly adds.  “Sorry forgot that part.”

“I love you,” Alex mimics, leaning in for a kiss that lasts longer than she would have allowed for a minute ago.

~~~

Alex walks into her bedroom with a frown.  She glances down at Tobin's nearly empty suitcase and pouts even more.  Placing the laundry basket down she starts going through the freshly cleaned clothes.  She tosses all of her clothes on the bed while taking her time to carefully fold each of Tobin's items.

Alex is almost done when Tobin walk in, munching on a granola bar.  She leans against the door frame and smirks down at Alex slightly confused.

“Are we doing something where you fold my clothes and I fold yours?”

Alex shakes her head.  “I just figured I'd help you pack.”

Tobin turns her head to the side, “Where am I going?”

“Far away from me,” Alex grumbles.

Tobin slowly chews and swallows.  “You kicking me out?”

Alex pauses, hands out mid fold of the Nike t-shirt in her hands.  “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean?” Tobin asks back.

“You said you were coming for a week.  It's been a week.”

“Yeah,” Tobin nods.  “I guess you're right.  I should leave.  I'll change my flight.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket and slowly starts pressing random buttons.  “Do you know what flight your parents are on?” she asks, not able to look up because of the large smirk.

“What do mean change your flight?”

“Well when I told you I was staying a week that was also when I was arriving next week.”

“So when do you leave?” Alex asks skeptically but smiling.

Tobin shrugs, “Like a week and a half.”. Alex jumps up and throws her arms around Tobin, holding her tight.  Tobin stumbles back but stays upright.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alex asks, not letting go.

“I thought you knew,” Tobin chuckles.  “I told you I was going to camp right after.”  Alex nods into Tobin’s neck.  “And I know you have an away game but I figured I could just chill here.  Maybe go find a pickup game or just a field cause I still need to train.”

Alex pouts, “I wish you could train with me.”

Tobin rubs her cheek.  “I know babe but I can’t so I just need a gym and a ball and I’ll be good.”  Tobin kisses her forehead.  “I’ll train when you leave for practice.”

Alex holds her tightly. “I’m not ever letting go,” she sighs.  

Tobin slips her hand under the hem of Alex’s shirt.  “Show me,” she breathes.

Alex loosens her grip around Tobin and pushes her down on the bed.  She pulls her shirt over her head before crawling on top of top of Tobin.

~~~

Alex sits up quickly, pushing the sheets and Tobin’s arm off of her, trying to get out of bed.  “Babe,” Tobin sleepily mumbles, her eyes still closed.

Alex doesn’t respond as she rushes out of the room.  Tobin takes a few seconds to wake up before slowly rolling out of bed and trudging after her in a daze.  Tobin finds her in the bathroom crouched in front of the toilet, holding her hair to the side.

“You okay?” Tobin asks, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

Alex nods, “Thought I was going to be sick, but I’m good.”

Tobin looks at Alex’s pale face.  “You sure?”

Alex nods, holding out her hand, “Help me up.”

Tobin reaches a hand out but instead presses the back of it against Alex’s forehead.  Feeling the clamminess she instead offers, “How ‘bout I go get some blankets and we just chill in here for a lil bit?”  Alex nods and starts to tie her hair in a loose bun behind her.  “Do you want anything else?”  Alex shakes her head slowly and scoots over so she’s leaning against the wall next to the toilet.

Tobin returns a couple minutes later with a few items in her hands.  Alex looks up as Tobin holds out the sweatshirt.  She smiles at the glasses Tobin now has on before letting Tobin help her pull the sweatshirt on.  Tobin then lays the blanket over Alex’s legs and sits down next to her.  Alex pushes herself away from Tobin before she’s even fully seated on the ground.  “I don’t want to get you sick,” she explains when Tobin pouts.

Tobin shrugs her shoulders and flips open her iPad.  “What do you want to watch?”

~~~

“Babe I really don’t think you should go,” Tobin tries.  “You spent all of yesterday puking and this morning.  You’re not keeping anything down.  Trust me they don’t want you to come if you’re going to get the whole team sick.”

Alex pouts, knowing it’s true.  She whimpers but nods, “Alright I need to call them.  Can you look up the word for stomach virus or something.”

Tobin laughs as she grabs the book she had gotten Alex from the coffee table.  She listens to Alex repeat herself twice before finding an adequate description in French.  She points it out to Alex who slowly says it into the phone.  The conversation goes much smoother and eventually Alex ends the call.  

Tobin holds out a cracker and Alex’s sick cup.  Alex pouts and takes them, nibbling.  “I say we have about thirty minutes till that comes back up again,” Tobin jokes.  “Want to practice some French?”

Alex glares at Tobin but nods as she settles her head in Tobin’s lap.  Tobin reaches over for one of Alex’s French practice sheets, getting halfway through before the sick forward falls asleep.

~~~

“Do you have to go?” Alex asks sadly as Tobin zips her suitcase shut.

Tobin nods.  “But I’ll see you in like a week in Philly.”  She stands up and turns around to see if there’s anything visible that she’s forgotten.

“Or you could just stay here with me and we could go together,” Alex offers.

“I could,” Tobin agrees, “but I’m not sure if Jill will let me stay in Philly if I miss a week of training then that’s another week I don’t get with you.”  Alex wraps her arms tightly around Tobin’s neck.  “I’ll see you soon.”

Alex pulls back with her lower lip out.  “But I got sick so we never finished my list.”

Tobin scrunches her eyebrows together in confusion.  “What list?”

Alex grins and presses her lips to Tobin’s, opening her mouth slightly and sucking on her lip.  She pulls away and lets her lips slide against Tobin’s jaw, working their way to the midfielder’s ear.  “The list of all the places in my apartment that we have sex.”

Tobin’s breath catches slightly in her throat and she pulls back to look Alex in the eyes.  Alex stares back with a devilish smile and Tobin eventually regains her confidence.  “What’s on your list?” she challenges.

“Well,” Alex starts, tapping her finger on her chin and looking up as if in deep thought, “the bed, obviously, but we’ve already done that.”

“Mmhm,” Tobin hums, “got that one right out of the way.”

Alex chuckles, “Checked it off quite a few times just to make sure.”  Tobin nods in agreement.  “Oh, the shower.”

“Checked that one off a few times too,” Tobin agrees.

“Yeah,” Alex smirks.  “The couch we’ve done.”  Alex looks around the room.  “Are you basically done packing?”

“Uh, yeah,” Tobin replies.  “Why?”

Alex grabs Tobin’s hand and pulls her out of the bedroom and leading her into the small kitchen area.  Before Tobin can say or do anything Alex grabs her by the hips and pushes her up against the refrigerator with her lips against her neck.  Tobin smiles softly, tilting her head so Alex has more access.  Her endearing smile soon melts away as Alex nibbles along her collarbone, giving way to a breathy moan.

Alex quickly hooks her thumb into the sides of Tobin’s yoga pants and pushes them down.  She detaches her lips from Tobin’s skin to bend down.  They sit tightly around Tobin’s ankles and Alex looks up.  She kisses Tobin’s thigh and then pulls each leg free with Tobin’s help.  Alex stands back up.  Holding out a hand between them Alex looks right into Tobin’s eyes while asking, “Hands please.”

Tobin looks at her confused but places one hand in the one held out to her.  Alex rolls her eyes and grabs the other one, placing it on top of the first.  Tobin looks at her confused but Alex just adjusts her position so she is supporting the hands by the wrists.  She quickly pushes up, lifting them over Tobin’s head and holding them against the fridge.  

Tobin glances up momentarily before looking back at Alex, her eyes full of lust.  “Okay,” she squeaks.  Alex grabs the hem of Tobin’s shirt and lifts it up, gathering the fabric, she pushes it over her head so it is caught behind her neck.  Alex glances up and down Tobin’s almost bare body.

“Have I ever told you how sexy you are?”

Tobin shakes her head, her chest heaving.  “I don’t know.”

Alex smiles and leans in, attaching her mouth to Tobin’s neck. Alex works her way along the warm skin slowly working towards the spot where her jaw and ear meet.  When she reaches the spot she rubs her tongue over it then moves to Tobin’s ear, nibbling and sucking on it until she has left a small bruise on the bottom of her earlobe.  Tobin moans softly with each nibble.  She pushes against Alex’s grip only to have her hands slammed back into the fridge.   

“No, no, no,” Alex scolds.  She places her other hand on Tobin’s hip and squeezes.  She then dances her way along the band of Tobin’s underwear to the front.  Her fingertips slip inside and Tobin pushes her hips out. 

“Stop teasing,” Tobin whines.

Alex smirks and presses her lips right against Tobin’s ear.  “But don’t you want me to think about making you super wet every time I open the fridge.”  Alex pushes her hand down further, cupping her hand over the heat.  She turns her head around, touching her cheek with Tobin’s.  “Then I’m going to put you on the counter and fuck you until you beg me to stop.”  Tobin gulps then gasps when Alex curls her middle finger up.  Alex smirks as her finger brushes Tobin’s clit causing her hips to push away from the fridge.  Alex nibbles on Tobin’s ear as she pushes her back with the heel of her palm.  “Then,” she huffs, releasing Tobin’s ear, “I want you inside of me while you pin me against the front door.”  She pushes against Tobin’s clit again, making her squirm.  “I want you to fuck me.”  Alex slides her fingers lower, pressing lightly so the pad of her middle finger enters Tobin.

“Fuck,” Tobin groans, chewing on her lips.

Alex runs her tongue down Tobin’s neck, sucking softly on her skin for a moment.  “Exactly,” she smiles, finally releasing Tobin’s hands to grab the sides of Tobin’s underwear and yanking down.  Alex kisses Tobin’s thigh as she stands back up as Tobin slowly lowers her arms.

“So, uh…,” Tobin looks at Alex, her chest rising and falling quickly.  

Alex kisses her and pulls her away, leading her to the tall counter and with a little effort on both parts Tobin is seated.  Alex smiles at Tobin’s bra covered chest that is at her eye level then looks up at Tobin staring deep into her eyes.  Placing a hand on each of Tobin’s thighs she scratches her nails down to her knees, then parts them, exposing her.  Tobin wets her lips anxiously looking back into Alex’s lust filled eyes.

“You are so fucking hot,” Alex whispers as she bends her knees, still keeping eye contact.

~~~

Alex sits cross legged on her bed while Tobin and Allie sit on the other.  Allie pokes Tobin for the third time to get her attention.  “Har, where are you?”

Tobin smiles at them, “Sorry.”

“What’s up babe?” Alex asks.  “You’ve been off since the game.”

Tobin shakes her head, “I’m good.  It’s just super cold here.”  

Alex gives Tobin a look to tell her she knows that’s not true but stands up and grabs her sweatshirt from on top of her suitcase and tosses it to Tobin.  While Tobin pulls it over her head Alex gives Allie a pointed look and jerks her head towards the door.  Allie nods and grabs her phone.  “I’m going to head over to Ash’s room.” She holds up her phone for show.  “She wants to see more pics of the pups.”

A minute later, Alex looks across the gap between the two beds.  “So wanna tell me what’s wrong now?”

Tobin looks down at the rings on her hand then grips the front of her shirt, something Alex hasn’t seen her do in a long time.  “It’s stupid.  It’s just...I’m sorry.  I’ll try to pay better attention.”

Alex shakes her head and reaches a hand out for Tobin.  “Babe, just tell me.”  Tobin tentatively reaches out, connecting their hands.  Alex then pulls, bringing Tobin to her feet then to the spot next to her.  “If it’s upsetting you I want to know.  I don’t care how stupid it is.”

Tobin looks up at Alex, her lips turned down.  “I swear it’s dumb babe and nothing you should worry about.”

Alex rests her hand on Tobin’s thigh.  “You know I’m going to worry more by not knowing.”

Tobin sighs, rubbing the thicker band of her wedding ring.  “I just kinda started thinking about the last time we played Germany.”

“Why?” Alex questions immediately.  “We won th… oh.”  Alex’s face falls.  “Tobin, that night meant nothing.”

“I know,” Tobin groans.  “I know.  That’s why I said it was stupid.  I know you didn’t mean it and that it was before everything of us getting back together.  I just can’t get the image out of my head.” 

Alex rubs Tobin’s thigh.  “I’m sorry.  Is there anything I can do?”

Tobin shrugs, leaning over slightly and resting her head on Alex’s shoulder.  Alex puts her arms around her, holding tightly.  “I love you, Tobs.  I’m going to love you for the rest of my life.”

Tobin nuzzles her nose against Alex’s neck.  “Love you too,” she breathes, snuggling closer.  

“Let’s lay down,” Alex sighs.  “I want to hold you.  We have time for a quick nap before our walkthrough.”  Tobin nods and lets Alex pull her to the pillows.

Once they are settled under the covers, Tobin looks up at Alex.  “Are we still doing dinner with our fams?”

“Yeah,” Alex nods.  “Why wouldn’t we be?”

“I didn’t know if you wanted some alone time with your parents and sisters.” 

“Tobs, your family is my family.”  She holds her left hand up, “Got these to prove it.”

Tobin smiles and presses a kiss to Alex’s hand.  She then snuggles into Alex’s embrace and lets the forwards arms tighten around her before drifting into a peaceful sleep.

~~~

Tobin holds Alex tightly in her arms, “Score me some goals.”

“I’ll try,” Alex sighs, smiling at her Lyon teammates behind Tobin making kissy faces at her.  She pulls away from Tobin.  “I love you.”

Tobin smiles, “I love you too.”  She then leans in, molding their lips together, their tongues brushing a moment later.   Alex tries to ignore it but eventually her teammates heckling breaks the spell and she pulls away from the kiss, glaring at them.  Tobin laughs and glances over her shoulder.  “What are they saying?”

Alex rolls her eyes then refocuses on Tobin.  “They’re just riding me.  I don’t know exactly what they’re saying but you know basically what our teammates say, just maybe a little dirtier because no one can understand them.”

Alex quickly pulls Tobin into another hug.  “I’m seeing you in a month,” she tells herself.

“Less than that,” Tobin adds.  “And we’ll be in nice, warm Texas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I'm kinda getting sick of this story for now but I had most of this already written so I figured I'd get it out. I want to write this story but I'm struggling with the motivation and making it work. I know the updates are sparse already but I think for a while they might be super sparce.
> 
> Also for the other story I've been working on if anyone wants to give me some feedback message me on tumblr


	9. Miss You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know it's been awhile. Not my best work but I've gotten a few messages in the past week or two asking for an update so I wanted to post this.

Alex chews on her lip while she waits for Tobin to answer the phone.  She groans as it goes to voicemail.  It beeps and Alex starts talking.  “Tobs, we need to talk.  I’m guessing you’re at practice right now but I need you to call me back right away.”  Alex looks at her computer screen again.  “I can’t believe you didn’t give me any warning for this. Like holy shit, what are we going to do?”  Alex sighs and leans back in her seat.   “Just call me when you get this.”  She places the phone on her table and leans forward again her eyes fixed to the computer screen.

An hour later, the phone buzzes and Alex quickly jogs over from the kitchen to pick it up.  “Hello?”

Tobin’s worried voice fills her ear.  “Uh, hey babe.”

Alex can hear different voices in the background and can picture Tobin in the locker room, half dressed.  She smiles as she walks back around the counter and tucks the phone between her shoulder and ear. “You have some explaining to do.”

“What did I do?” Tobin asks nervously.

“You didn’t warn me,” Alex explains.  “I was minding my own business and I going through your tags and… and you really just can’t do that to me.”

“Lex, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.  It’s either fake or blown out of proportion.  I swear.”  

Alex can hear the anxiousness in her wife’s voice and realizes she’s completely oblivious to what they’re actually talking about.  “No babe, it’s not that.  It’s that fucking promo that you shot for Six Star.  The close ups, your muscles, the ugh… babe you shoulda warned me.”  Tobin is silent for a few seconds before she starts laughing.  “Don’t laugh,” Alex demands.

Tobin is able to stop a few moments later, “I should have warned you about searching my tags?  I thought that was kinda a given.”

“No.  I like searching your tags.  It’s a nice way for me to see you and sometimes I even see you around Portland.  You should have warned me that there were going to be hot photos of you posted on the internet for the entire world to see.”

“Yeah cause there aren’t photos posted of you everyday.”

Alex groans, ignoring her, “I saw those and wished you were here.  I miss you.”

“I miss you too.  I’m going to see you in like two weeks.”

Alex smiles, “I know.  I can’t wait.”  Alex hears someone calling for Tobin in the background.  “You gotta go?”

“Uh yeah, kinda.  We’re doing a team lunch.”

“Fun,” Alex replies.  “You can go I just wanted you to know that having sexy pictures posted online without telling me is not okay.”

Tobin laughs again, “So should I tell you about the porn site or…”

“Rude,” Alex sasses.  “Go have fun without me, just make sure you tell the rooks about me.”

Tobin scoffs, “Like they don’t already know about you.”

“They don’t know how loveable I am,” Alex protests.

Alex hears some shuffling then Tobin’s voice away from the speaker but much louder at the same time.  “Hey, everyone.  Hey.  Shut up for a sec.”  There’s a pause and the background noise disappears.  “Thank you.  Alex wants all of you to know that she’s lovable.”

Alex rolls her eyes as the random voices pick back up, louder than before, then Tobin’s voice comes back through the speaker at her normal volume.  “They mostly don’t agree with your assessment of yourself.”

“Shut up,” Alex laughs.  “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

~~~

Alex smiles as Tobin’s face fills the screen.  “Hi,” she breathes as she strokes the image of Tobin’s face on her computer.

“Hey babe,” Tobin sighs.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asks immediately.

“I called Jill.  She doesn’t want me to come in.”

Alex’s face falls, “Is it really that bad?”

Tobin shrugs and bobs her head once.  “Yeah.  I wouldn’t be doing much there and it makes sense I just wish I could rehab there.”

“Do they know when you’ll be better by?”

“Hopefully by the start of the season.”

Alex pouts, “I’m sorry love.  I wish I was there.  I know it can’t be easy with Norbs and everything.”

“I’ve been taking him to the park instead of walking so it’s not too bad.”

Alex half smiles, “That’s good.  Do you know if she’s calling up someone else?”

“She’s gonna try.  Moe and Linds are out too so that’s three mids.  I think she’s gonna look at the youths but we’ll see.”

Alex sighs and looks longingly at Tobin’s face.  “I miss you.”

“I miss you too babe.  We’ll just have to go a little longer than we thought.  I’ll see you in June.”

Alex pouts her lip but nods.  “Do you think there’s any way I could get Mark to release you?”

Tobin shakes her head.  “Unlikely.”

~~~

Alex sits in the team car with Kelley, waiting for Allie and Christen.  She looks over as Kelley hangs up her phone.  “How’s your mom?”

Kelley smiles, “She’s good.  Says hi.  The ushe, but actually she reminded me about something.  We’re gonna foster a dog this season so I was wondering if there’s anything I need to know.”

“Uh, feed them, love them, find a vet.”

Kelley smiles, “Food, love, doggy doctor.  Easy.”

Alex pouts, “I miss Norbs.  His birthday is the day before the Houston game and I’m going to miss it and you know Tobin’s not going to throw him a party.”

Kelley laughs, “Yeah.”

~~~

Tobin watches Lindsey playing with the three dogs, groaning at the fluff all over her living room floor from the two younger puppies destroying their toys.  Tobin leans back on the couch as the post game show continues in front of her.  She picks her phone up and takes a picture of Norbert half on Lindsey who is laying on the floor, Shay licking her face, and Kass chewing on one of her shoes.  She sends it to Alex and Allie then opens a text to just Alex.

**Tobin: Hey babe.  Just want to say you had a great game and you had some really good crosses.  Call me before you go to bed.  I miss you**

She sets her phone in her lap and watches the child in front of her play with the dogs.  She eventually is able to get the human and dogs that don’t belong to her out of the house and walks to the kitchen door to let Norbert out.  She watches him sniff the grass when her phone vibrates in her pocket.  

**Kelley O’: Your girl got attacked**

Tobin reads the message twice, fear growing in her chest.  She quickly presses on the screen twice and brings the phone up to her ear.  It’s answered on the second ring, and Tobin can hear laughing, shouting, and music before Kelley says, “Yo.”

“What happened?” Tobin sputters.  Kelley laughs and Tobin scrunches her eyebrows together.  “Kelley,” she demands.

“She’s fine.  Someone ran out on the field and kinda tackled her.”

“But she’s okay?” Tobin asks, needing the reassurance.

“Yeah.  She’s at the hospital but she was laughing as they loaded her onto the ambulance.”

Tobin’s heart drops.  “Oh my God.  Was it her head?  I’m flying down.”  She glances at the clock.  “Shit I don’t think I can get a flight out tonight.  Kel, can-”

Kelley starts laughing again, causing Tobin to stop.  Kelley’s laughter becomes distant then Alex’s voice comes through the phone.  “Hello?”

“Babe?” Tobin asks confused, rubbing Norbert’s head as he comes to the door.

“Oh, hey Tobs.”  Tobin can hear the smile on her face.  “I was just about to text you.”

“Are you okay?” Tobin asks, now pretty sure Kelley was joking but still needing the verbal confirmation.

“Yeah.  Why?”

“Kelley told me someone attacked you.”

The noise in the background gets much quieter as Alex walks away from her happy teammates.  “It wasn’t really a tackle.  I kinda stumbled but that was it.  They pulled her off of me pretty quick.”

“So no hospital?” Tobin confirms.

Alex groans.  “I hope Kel realizes that as her roommate I can kill her in her sleep.  No babe.  I’m seriously fine.  Promise”

“Okay,” Tobin sighs.  “I just got really worried that you were hurt and I wasn’t there.”

“Ask anyone.  We all kinda just laughed about it.”

“Okay.  I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I really wish I could see you,” Alex sighs, leaning against the bathroom wall.

“Me too, baby.”

Alex hears cheering from the other room and sighs.  “I gotta go but I’ll call you later.”

Tobin nods, “Yeah, I’ll be up so just call me when you can.  Love you.”

“I love you too.  Also tell Lindsey if she’s still there that Allie wants more pictures.”

“Of course she does.” Tobin rolls her eyes.

~~~

Tobin sits in a booth next to Lindsey, eyes up on the screen in front of her as the second half starts.  When she hears Lindsey whispering she turns attention away from the screen and sees Mark nodding his head.   She leans over, “What are we talking about?”

The two look up and turn to face her.  “Uh…,” Mark turns, looking at the side of Lindsey’s face.  

Lindsey rolls her eyes, “Marc was wondering how upset  you’re going to be because you have to go to rehab early tomorrow morning.”

Tobin glances between the two.  “Why?”

Lindsey shrugs, “I’ll come pick you up when you’re done and we can go get food.”

“Fine,” Tobin groans, turning to Mark, “what time?”

~~~

“Why did you make them cancel my rehab to come pick up Allie?  You told me we were getting food” Tobin groans as she leans against the window.

“They didn’t cancel it,” Lindsey groans.  “You did your rehab this morning.”

“Yeah but you made me wake up at seven in the morning.  How did you get them to agree to that?”

“I’m magical,” she explains.  “And stop blaming me.  I had nothing to do with this.  I was instructed by Allie that I was driving you here and that you should do your pt before.  If you really want we can go get food after.”

Tobin groans and looks back out the window only to turn back to Lindsey moments later.  “Why are we parking?”

Lindsey taps her finger on the steering wheel a few times, “Uh.  I need to pee.”

“Fine, but I’m staying in the car.”

“No,” Lindsey argues.  “You’re coming in with me.”  Tobin huffs but agrees.

Fifteen minutes later, half of that time spent arguing, they walk to the baggage claim, Lindsey looking down at her phone.  

“I thought you had to go to the bathroom?” Tobin questions

“I do.  I will.  I was just checking where their bags were coming out.”

Tobin nods and looks around.  Lindsey spins around twice then points, “This way.”  She grabs Tobin’s arm and leads her over to a carousel.  Tobin sits down on the metal rim.  “Could you stand up for like five minutes?”

“My back hurts.  I’m supposed to be resting.”

“Tobin, stand up.”

Tobin pushes to her feet, rubbing her back.  “What has you in a mood?”  Tobin looks at the board in the center of the carousel.  “Are you sure this is the right one?  It says Chicago.”

“That’s probs messed up.  Allie told me this one.”

“Yeah cause Allie couldn’t be wrong,” Tobin jests while looking around.  “There’s a board over there,” she points to the other side of the carousel, “I’m gonna go see what it says.”

“Tobin,” Lindsey groans but the winger is already walking away.

Tobin stares up at the board.  “Idiot,” she mutters to herself.  “That’s not even remotely the right one.”  Tobin turns around, ready to tell Lindsey when she sees a different tall blonde running towards her.  

Allie stops short and holds her bags up straight.  “Hey, Har,” Allie leans in for a hug.  “I missed you.  I got you a present in Texas.”

“Is that why I had to come to the airport? You couldn’t have just come over or something?”

Allie shakes her head.  “I wanted you to see it right away.”

Tobin nods, looking at Allie expectantly.  “Well?” she probes when Allie just looks at her. “Where is it?”

“Lindsey has it,” Allie chirps.

Tobin groans and walks back to Lindsey with Allie.  When they are a few feet away she looks down and notices Lindsey has two bags next to her.  She looks down to where Allie is pulling her two bags.  “Whose are those?”

“They’re part of your present.”

Tobin looks at Allie skeptically then looking around Lindsey at the bags.  She feels a tap on her shoulder and turns her head, glancing behind her.  Her face lights up as she spins her body around and wraps Alex in tight hug.  She starts to lift the forward off the ground before dropping her arms and putting both hands on her back with a groan.  “Fuck.”

“Babe,” Alex scolds, cupping Tobin’s cheeks in her hands. “Don’t hurt yourself.”  She leans in and presses their lips together over and over.  Her hand soon slides behind Tobin’s head and Tobin places one of her hands on Alex’s hip.  Their numerous kisses stop, turning into one long passionate kiss.  Once Alex’s tongue enters Tobin’s mouth, Lindsey and Allie both start gagging in an attempt to break them apart.  After another few seconds, they finally break apart and Tobin buries her face in Alex’s hair.

“Do you guys want to maybe do this at home?” Allie asks.  “You can even do it naked as long as I don’t have to see it.”

Alex turns her head and kisses the top of Tobin’s.  “I’m only here till tomorrow.  Let’s go home.”

Thirty minutes later, Lindsey pulls into the short driveway behind Tobin’s and Alex’s cars.  Alex releases Tobin’s hand so they can get out of the back row.  “Thanks for the ride, Linds,” Alex says, sticking her head back in the car.  “Maybe we can do dinner or something.”

Allie and Lindsey both give her a look.  “Yeah right,” Lindsey scoffs. “Just have fun with her but don’t throw out her back.”

Alex smiles and shuts the door, walking to the trunk where Tobin is pulling out Alex’s suitcases.  “No, baby.  Don’t.”  Alex puts her hands over Tobin’s.  “I got them.”

Tobin smiles appreciatively and lets Alex pull the bags from the car while she pulls her keys out of her pocket.  As soon as Alex slams the trunk closed Norbert starts barking loudly behind the door.  “My boy,” Alex coos, dragging her bags to the door.

Tobin follows after her holding her key out for Alex who stands at the front door bouncing on her toes.  Alex takes it and quickly gets the door open.  Norbert rushes out then starts bouncing when he sees Alex.  He throws his body into her, running around the yard then back to her.  Alex kneels and lets him give her kisses between running in circles excitedly and clawing at her arms, shoulders, and face.  He thankfully calms down after five minutes and Alex is able to give him a hug.

“He missed you,” Tobin comments from inside the house.  “He’s been keeping your spot in bed warm.”

Alex kisses his head and looks over at Tobin.  “I told him he’s in charge of protecting you.  He takes his job very seriously.”  She then leans over and presses her lips against Tobin’s.  “Now let’s go inside and snuggle.  I missed you two so much.”

~~~

“Do you have to go?” Tobin pouts, her chin on Alex’s shoulder.  She pulls Alex’s body closer to her, intertwining their bare legs.

Alex turns her head and kisses the tip of Tobin’s nose.  “Sorry babe.  I wish I could stay forever.  I’ll be back in like two months and we’ll have a nice little European vacation before that.”

Tobin tightens her grip on Alex’s hip.  Her voice barely audible as she whispers, “But that’s so long.”

“We’ll talk and Facetime all the time.  I’m going to watch all of the games that I can so I can watch you dominate.”

Tobin nods, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath of Alex’s scent.  She sighs softly and snuggles into Alex side even more.  “I love you,” she breathes.

Alex smiles, “I love you too.” Alex rests her chin on the top of Tobin’s head, lightly brushing her fingers up and down arm.  “And I miss you everyday, my love.”

“I’m glad you came here even though it’s like an extra five hours of flying.”

“I’d do anything to see you, for you.  I know this hasn’t been easy but I’m still one hundred percent in love with you.”

Tobin smiles up into Alex’s blue eyes and softly presses their lips together.

Alex deepens the kiss and rolls over, pinning Tobin beneath her.  She pulls back slightly and looks down at her wife, her hair creating a shield from them and the outside world.  “Once more,” Alex whispers before leaning down and reconnecting their lips. Tobin digs her fingers into the soft skin of Alex’s hips.

~~~

Alex rolls over in bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes while she grabs her phone.  She yawns as she unlocks the screen then starts going through her notifications from the night.  She smiles when she sees Tobin posted something on Instagram while she was asleep.  She clicks on it and impatiently waits for it to load.

When it finally does she sees that it’s a video and quickly presses it and turns up her volume.  Her first view is of Tobin with a ball at her feet, walking away from the camera, down the hallway towards their bedroom, Norbert looking up from his dog bed in the corner of their living room as she passes.  Alex lets out a slow breath as she tries to calm herself, knowing where this is going.  

Tobin turns around after kicking some of Norbert’s toys out of her way.  She takes two steps back then looks at the camera before stepping back in and launching the ball.  The ball hits to the right of the phone and sends it tumbling forward and the screen goes black.  Alex watches it one more time before scrolling down more and seeing Tobin’s comment about her mom accompanying the video.  

Alex shakes her head, chuckling as she likes it then clicks on comment.  She chews on her lip for a moment, trying to think of exactly what she wants to say before she starts typing. Once she’s satisfied and adds a heart to the end of her comment she presses send.  She reads it over once more.

_alexmorgan13 Go outside. Don’t make me call your mom._

~~~

Alex sends a quick good luck tweet to the Thorns before sitting down to eat her dinner and waiting for Tobin to get to the stadium so she can respond to her texts.

Two hours later Alex is in bed, the game just starting on the computer in front of her.  She texts Tobin constantly throughout the game, asking for updates as the stream cuts in and out.  

~~~

Tobin groans as her alarm goes off.  She lays still for  a few seconds with her eyes closed before pushing herself up and walking to the kitchen.  

She lets Norbert out before scrolling through the texts she had.

**Lex: I’m starting**

**Lex: Hope you’re dreaming about me ;)**

**Lex: Warm up time.  Thinking of you**

A picture of Alex’s left hand with a thin piece of tape around her finger follows the text.

**Lex: Okay.  Game time.  Love you.  Hopefully you can find some way to watch**

Tobin starts searching for a stream on her laptop, getting more aggravated as she fails to find one.  She lets Norbert in and makes them both breakfast.  She smiles when she sits down and sees Alex had scored.  

**Tobin: GOAL!! No idea how you actually scored but twitter is keeping me up to date.  Proud of you**

Thirty minutes later, Toin sees she’s scored again.

**Tobin: Damn baby. Another one**

Tobin refreshes her screen, laughing to herself.  “Of course.”

**Tobin: Well that was quick**

**Tobin: What are they feeding you over there and can I have some** Tobin refreshes again and looks over at Norbert who is licking his foot.  “Your mama is on fire.”  He lifts his head and turns to look at Tobin for a second before he resumes cleaning his foot.

**Tobin: I guess you were right.  Your inability to score off the field is helping ;)**

~~~

Tobin sits back on the couch, cueing up the second leg against Manchester City on the television in front of her.  She taps a ball back and forth, flipping through a surfing magazine during the scoreless first half.   She puts her focus on the screen when the second half starts and Alex jogs onto the field.

Tobin groans ten minutes later when Carli blasts one into the net.  “They just can’t let them score again,” she mutters to herself, Norbert ignoring her.  A few minutes later, she leans forward elbows on knees as Alex chases after a ball.  

Alex sticks her leg out the same time the City goalkeeper does.  Tobin cringes as Alex gets taken out.  “What the fuck,” she groans when a foul isn’t called.  They show a replay of Alex getting punched in the face and Tobin tries to send positive vibes Alex’s way while grabbing her phone.

**Tobin: Just saw the hit. Let me know how she is when you find out anything**

Luckily her mom answers right away.

**Mama: The video must be a little behind. She’s up and playing again.  I’ll let you know more when I see her**

Tobin looks up and sure enough Alex standing again and waiting to get called back onto the field by the official.  Tobin let’s out a slow breath.

**Tobin: Okay just let me know more**

~~~

A few days later Tobin’s phone buzzes in her pocket and she comes to a stop.  Norbert looks up at her confused as she pulls it out and accepts the call.  “Hello?”

“Hey babe.”

Tobin smiles, “Hmm.  Who could this be? Definitely not my fabulous, champion league final wife.”

Alex chuckles.  “Your parents are taking me out to dinner since they leave tomorrow but I figured I would call before I leave.”

“Well my mom sent me a picture of them decked out in OL gear and I’m kinda upset you never sent me a jersey with 31 on the back.  Right Norbs,” Tobin coos as she starts walking again.

Alex rolls her eyes.  “What’s wrong with the three you already have?”

“How can I support you during the final if I’m not wearing the right number.  The reverse of your number isn’t the same.”

“You know that’s not why I choose that number right?”

“It isn’t?” 

Alex smiles, “Nope.  It holds a slightly more special meaning.  Like I tried to do 17 but that was taken so I did 7 but I couldn’t do that for Champions League.  I decided to choose our anniversary date instead.”

“I think that means I should get that jersey even more.  It’s basically a jersey for me.”

Alex looks up as Tobin’s parents walk over from the elevator.  “I’ll get one and send it.  You’re parents are ready.  I love you and I’ll talk to you later okay.”

“Okay.  I love you too.  Don’t let them get you too drunk.”

“Haha very funny.  It was one time a long time ago.”

“I mean I don’t know what you would tell them cause last time you told them we were moving in together but just in case, limit yourself.”

“Bye, Tobin,” Alex drawls before disconnecting the call.

~~~

Tobin sits on the bed in the guest bedroom half dressed.  She looks around the room she had called hers for a few very long months while Alex worked through her feelings.  She looks down at her left hand and smiles.  Her phone vibrates next to her and she picks it up.  Opening the text, she sees a picture of Alex kissing the newly acquired D1 cup.  

**Lex: All for you babe.  Wish I was kissing you**

Tobin smiles and searches through her phone for a second until she finds a picture of them from the World Cup both kissing silver ball separating them.  She sends it to Alex.

**Tobin: Like this?**

Tobin lays back the bed, looking up at the ceiling.  She closes her eyes and pictures Alex walking in and asking her to return to their bedroom, their second first time, Alex proposing, their fight, making up...her smile grows as she recalls the many places around Alex’s childhood home that they reconnected...she stops on the thoughts of their wedding.  Her phone vibrating brings her back to present day.

**Lex: I love you baby.  I’ll call you tonight**

Tobin smiles and holds up her phone, taking a picture that she know Alex will appreciate.  She posts it to Instagram along with the caption _Daydreaming_.

~~~

Tobin stands when there’s a knock at the door.  “Just a second,” she calls as she grabs her bag and pats the top of Norbert’s head.  She pulls the door open, revealing Lindsey holding a semi large box in her hand.  “Delivery,” she smirks, holding out the box.  Tobin takes it, looking at her confused.  “It was against your door when we got here.”

Tobin quickly sees it’s from France and smiles, holding a finger up to Allie who is waiting in the car, then heads back inside.  Tobin walks to the kitchen, dropping the box on the counter and pulling scissors from the drawer.  She pulls the box open after cutting through the five layers of tape Alex had used to keep the box sealed.  She smiles when she sees two white jerseys and a folded white piece of paper sitting on top.

Tobin plucks it off the top as her front door opens.

_Hi my love,_

_Here’s an OL jersey for you and Norbs.  I hope you like them._

_I can’t wait to be home and to see you in less than a month._

_I love you so much._

_Lex_

“What’s going on?” Allie asks as she enters the kitchen. “Are we going or not?”

“Just a second,” Tobin says, placing the card on the counter and picking up the smaller jersey.  She glances at the back quickly, seeing the 31 before turning it towards Allie and Lindsey as she looks at the front.  “Norbs and I didn’t have this one yet.”

“Is that a game jersey?” Allie asks, looking over at Lindsey.

Tobin shrugs.  “Don’t know.”  She brings it closer and sniffs it.  “She washed it if it is.”

Lindsey gags while Allie asks, “No but like did she change her name?”

Tobin scrunches her eyebrows and turns the jersey around.  Her eyes look up from the 31 to **_Morgan-Heath_ ** above it.  She quickly drops it on the counter and grabs the other one, turning it around to see the same conjoined last name on the back.  

“Why did she...We said we weren’t going to...It was only legally….”  Tobin pulls her phone out of her pocket and quickly dials Alex’s number.

After a few rings, a tired voice answers the phone.  “Tobin,” Alex yawns, “what’s wrong?”

“Wha…,” she glances at the time.  “Shit babe I’m sorry.  Your jerseys just got here.”

“So you saw?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not for games or anything but as I was asking for them i realized the number was for both of us so the name should represent that.”

Tobin smiles, turning away from the watchful blondes.  “I love you.  Get some sleep so you can get better.”

“I miss you.  I wish we could be in the same country if we’re both going to be injured.”

“That would be nice,” Tobin agrees, “but you have two more cups to win and I don’t think I could sit on a plane for that long.”

“I know.  I just miss you.”

“Just a few more weeks.  You’ll be back here wishing for some time apart because I’m not going to let go.”

“Unlikely.  I think I’ll have other things on my mind.”

“Oh really?” Tobin smirks. “What would those be?”  Allie and Lindsey both clear their throats loudly before Alex can respond.  “Sorry babe.  I’m going out with some of the girls.  I gotta go.”

“Okay.  Have fun.  I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Tobin smiles, “Night.”  She slowly pulls the phone away and hangs up.  She looks at the jersey again as she turns around.  She can’t hide her smile as she looks up at Allie and Lindsey.  “Alright.  We can go now.”

~~~

Tobin sits at baggage claim, hat pulled down as she scrolls through pictures of Alex and her teammates celebrating in St. Tropez.  She looks up when she hears footsteps approaching.  Her lips spreading widely as she opens her arms and Alex barrels into them.  

“Welcome home, Lex,” Tobin whispers into Alex’s hair.

“I’m home in your arms,” Alex replies, hugging her tightly.  She pulls back after a minute, turns Tobin’s face with her thumb, and presses their lips together. They continue molding their lips together for nearly a minute before breaking apart.

“Let’s get your stuff and go home,” Tobin says slowly, her eyelids slowly opening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got kinda lazy towards the end so...sorry bout that. I don't know when I'll be back but hounding me doesn't hurt. I'm pretty busy but I'll try.
> 
> Anyways what's going on with y'all?


	10. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is short, didn't really have time to edit, but it's written and I'm kinda stuck/procrastinating studying for my exam in the am

Alex falls onto the couch next to a Tobin, a Timber’s game on the screen.  “How are we doing?” she probes as she snuggles into Tobin’s side.

Tobin presses her lips against the top of Alex’s head, keeping her eyes on the screen. “Down by one.  How was your meeting?”

Alex frowns at the screen.  “It was pretty good.  There’s a few companies in France that want me for endorsements so we talked about those.  He also asked me about going back.”

“At least he waited a few weeks,” Tobin quips.

Alex laughs softly, “Yeah.  I told him no though.”

Tobin finally pulls her eyes from the screen and looks to Alex.  “You did?” she asks, her voice not giving away her feelings.

“Yeah, isn’t that what we decided?”

Tobin shrugs, “I just know you really liked it so if you wanted to go back you could and you’d get more time with them cause you could leave right after our season here ends.”

Alex tilts her head up and kisses Tobin’s jaw.  “I’d miss you too much.”

Tobin’s phone vibrates on the table in front of her.  Tobin glances over, seeing her Katie’s name on the screen she picks it up.  She unlocks it and smiles at the picture, turning the phone towards Alex.

Alex pouts and takes the phone.  “He’s so cute.”  Alex stares at the phone for a few seconds silently.  “I want him,” she whispers softly.

“Soon, we’re going next week, we’ll see him and Tyler and Cole.  You’ll be drowning in cuteness.”  Alex doesn’t respond so Tobin dips her head so she can see her wife’s face clearly.  “What is it?”

“I want a baby,” Alex sighs, looking up at Tobin.

Tobin softly smiles, “You can’t kidnap our nephews.”

“I want our own.”  Alex pulls away and turns so she’s sitting cross legged on the couch facing Tobin.  “It’s okay if you’re not ready just yet but can we talk about it.  Starting the process and stuff.  Maybe just getting in the system.”

Tobin bites her lip.  “You uh...you sure you want to start now?”

Alex nods, “You still want kids rights?  You haven’t changed your mind since December right?”

Tobin shakes her head and stands up.  “Hold on.”  She disappears down the hallway towards their bedroom.  Alex looks after her, waiting a few seconds before standing and following.  She gets to the guest bedroom and notices the desk light on.  She turns and sees Tobin pulling a folder from the small filing cabinet underneath.

“What are you doing?”  Tobin smiles and holds out the folder to Alex before sitting on the bed.  Alex flips open the folder, not quite sure what she’s looking at.  “What is this?”

“Adoption papers,” Tobin smiles.  “Well, not exactly but papers saying we would like to become parents.”

Alex more closely looks at the papers, seeing pages about their living environment, medical history, and every other thing they could possibly be asked.  “When did you get these?”

Tobin shrugs.  “April I guess.  Everyone was at an away game and I had been talking to Katie and Perry who had both just gotten ultrasounds.  It got me thinking about us raising a kid.”

Alex sits down next to Tobin, reading Tobin’s long thin writing.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tobin shrugs.  “You were focused on winning and recovery.  I wasn’t going to submit it until you were home and had read through every single word, I just figured I could start it.”

“When were you going to tell me?” Alex closes the folder and sets it down, turning to look at Tobin.

“I kinda forgot.  You haven’t been home that long and I just wanted to be near you.”

“Well I’m here now,” Alex snuggles into Tobin’s side. They lay in silence for a few minutes. “So how do we submit them?”

“We just go into the office and hand them in.  We’ll have to set up a few meetings so they can get to know us and come to the house before we get fill out the next set of forms.”

“Can we do it tomorrow?”

Tobin chuckles and lifts her head up off the pillow to look at Alex. “Yeah I guess.  We can go after practice.”

Alex smiles.  “Cool.”  She presses a kiss to Tobin’s cheek then sitting up.  “Now go make dinner while I read through all of these.”

Tobin rolls her eyes before rolling off the bed and following Alex into the kitchen.  Alex sits down at the table while Tobin moves to the fridge.

Ten minute later Alex has papers spread out over the table as Tobin softly sings along to the music playing from her phone.  “You told our friends about this?” Alex asks looking up from the pile in front of her.

Tobin turns from the counter, “Huh?”

“You have Lauren, Amy, Mark and Allie listed as references.”

“Uh, yeah. I haven’t actually asked them yet but they all have kids so I figured they would be good on parental references since it said nonfamily.”

“Um when did Allie have a child?”

“Lindsey,” Tobin smirks, turning back to the pan of sauteed vegetables.

Alex rolls her eyes and turns the page.  “We’ll need to ask them first.”

“I know,” Tobin replies before joining in with the new song.

~~~

“Of course, Tobin.  You guys are gonna be great parents.  Any child would be so lucky.”

…

“Oh my God.  We’re going to have so many play dates.  Ryan and Luke are going to love having a cousin.”

…

“How much should I lie?”

…

“What do you need me to be a reference for?  Are you getting a new job?  Alex this makes no sense.”

“Maybe if you let me finish you would understand. I was asking if you would be a reference for me _and Tobin_.”

“So you’re both getting new jobs.  Are you guys leaving Portland?”

“No.  Would you shut up for half a second, Allie?  Tobin and I want to adopt and we need references so you have to be nice.”

~~~

“Okay, so we can set up a meeting at least two weeks from now and then a home visit soon after that.”

“Perfect,” Alex smiles, squeezing Tobin’s hand and pulling out her phone with the other to check her calendar.  Alex and Tobin set their meetings up and walk out of the office.  

“I hate that we have to go through all this paperwork.”

Tobin smiles.  “Too bad you can’t just knock me up.”

“Yeah, unfortunately I don’t have the right equipment.”

Tobin leans closer as they pass a small group on the sidewalk, “I think your equipment is pretty nice.”

Alex laughs and slaps Tobin’s shoulder. “My _equipment_ is going to stay locked up if you don’t behave.”

Tobin glances around, making sure no one is in hearing distance.  “I mean I still haven’t made good on my bet but if you don’t want...how many was it again?  Ten? Fifteen? Orgasms.  I was going to start tonight...well today when we got home to celebrate this lovely day.”

Alex bites her lip, “Are you hungry cause suddenly I’m not so much anymore.  We can do lunch at home right.”

Tobin smiles and lets Alex lead them to her car. “After you m’lady.”

~~~

“So we should maybe get some of our answers straight before our meeting,” Alex states, looking over at Tobin from the passenger seat.

“For the interview?  Why?  We didn’t commit a murder.”

“We want to seem on the same page.”

Tobin nods and starts to back down the driveway.  “Alright.  Ask away.”

“Boy or girl?”

“Does it matter?”

Alex smiles and shakes her head.  “Just confirming that we still have the same answers.”

“How old?”

“I mean a baby would be nice but I know those are in high demand so that could be later if it doesn’t work out right away.  Maybe even after we retire.  I think like up to ten or twelve would be okay.  Not too much older or I’ll feel like were the same age.”

“You’d be over ten years older than them.”

“Yeah well what about you.  You’re twentyseven going on what... twentyfour.”

“Twentyfive,” Alex corrects, shaking her head.

“So we’ll keep it sorta young, for now. Next.”

Alex turns as much as she can in her seat to face Tobin.  “Would you be willing to adopt siblings?”

Tobin glances over and sees the seriousness on Alex’s face.  Thankfully she is pulling up to a red light so she can focus more on her wife’s face.  “Yeah, of course.  I wouldn’t want to split up siblings.”

Alex nods at the response and they both sit quietly for a minute.  “How are we going to raise a boy?”

“Did your dad not raise you? Yeah there might be a few things here or there that we won’t know the answer to or even know that it’s a question but he’ll have two grandpa’s, a handful of uncles, and Mark who I think of more as a den mother but he’s a he.  Also he’ll have two professional athletes as parents.  I think that would be pretty cool.  I think the question you need to be asking is what if the kid doesn’t like soccer.  If that’s the case we’re screwed.”

“I didn’t even think about that.  What if they don’t like sports?  We would have to drag them to our games and that will probably cause fights and maybe it will get out that were forcing them to come and we’ll get in trouble and then what if they take them away.”

“Al,” Tobin reaches a hand over, resting it on the forwards bouncing leg, “we would not be the first parents to force their kids to do something they don’t want to do.” Tobin pulls into the player’s parking lot. She reaches for Alex’s hand and takes it in her own.  “They want parents who are going to love the kids given to them.  We are going to love the crap out of those kids. Go beat Seattle and on the ride back you can come up with a list of questions for us to go through for the meeting.”

Alex smiles and leans forward.  “I wish you were coming with us.”

Tobin gives her a small smile.  “I know babe.  It sucks, especially because of your birthday. We used to go away together all the time. Except for every once in awhile when you would have a job and I wasn’t going with you.”

Alex leans over, pressing a kiss against Tobin’s lips, moving them together.  Her hand reaches up, cupping the back of Tobin’s head, locking in her hair.  Tobin is nibbling on Alex’s lip when a knock breaks them apart.  They turn  to see Lindsey’s face pushed up against the glass.  

“Stop sucking face.  I thought married people were supposed to stop being all lovey dovey.”

Alex opens her door and steps out next to Lindsey.  “Have you seen her?” she asks sarcastically.

“Yeah, I have.”  Lindsey smirks, taking a small step back. “That’s why I’m wondering why you’re together.”

~~~

Allie plops down in the seat next to Alex, causing her to look up and pull her headphones off.  “Hey.”

“So what are you guys doing tonight?”

Alex shrugs, “I don’t know.  We haven’t really talked about it and she hasn’t even been home because she’s visiting her family.”

Allie smirks, “Yeah, she sent me a picture.  They’re adorable.”

Alex nods, “Yeah.  Seeing her with them is adorable.  She’s really good with them.  I just want to have kids with her.”

Allie laughs.  “You will.  They’re not going to say no to you.  You guys are going to make amazing parents.”

“I hope they think so.”

~~~

Tobin holds Alex’s hand tightly as they exit through the glass doors into the warm Portland air.  “I don’t even know how that went.”

Alex nods, “I think it went okay.  She didn’t really seem upset by our answers and said she would see us for the home interview.  That has to mean we made it to the next stage.”

“I hope so.  I just didn’t know what to say for some of those questions.  That was worse than interviews.”

Alex leans over to kiss Tobin’s cheek.  “You did great babe.  They don’t expect you to be perfect they just want to make sure you are going to be a good parent and you will be.”

Tobin nods as they get to their car, climbing into the passenger seat.  “Want fried rice?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not really sure what i want to happen next but i'll take any ideas and i'll start taking preferences on kid stuff (age, gender, name, anything else)


	11. Two Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long. School and work have been super busy and I have like no free time any more. This isn't remotely my best work but I felt bad cause you guys kept asking for stuff. So see...pestering works. Anyways here it is. Also WE WON!

“Alex, come on.  We can’t be late.”

Thirty seconds later, Alex walks out of the bedroom, hair perfectly curled over her left shoulder.  “We won’t be late babe.” She presses a kiss against Tobin’s lips as she walks by.  “I’m ready.”  They walk out of the door and to Alex’s car.  

“What do you think they teach us?”

Alex shrugs. “Probably how to comfort a child that’s coming into a new situation.  Explain different types of fostering scenarios.  I don’t know babe.  We’ll find out when we get there.”

Tobin smiles, “Cool.”

~~~

Tobin sits on the couch, computer on her lap.  “Babe, can you come ‘ere a sec?” she calls towards the bedroom.

Alex groans but after a minute appears.  “What?” she asks annoyed.

“I need help picking which goal I should vote for.”  Tobin turns her head back to the computer.  “I mean Chris’s goal was pretty nice.”

“Oh so you’re actually voting for a goal this week?”

Tobin shrugs, “I figured why not.”

“And you didn’t think that maybe you should vote for…,” Alex leans over the couch, her arms resting above Tobin’s shoulder, “a teammate.”  She leans closer to Tobin’s ear, “Or I don’t know, maybe your wife.”

“That’s nepotism.”

“I think everyone will understand.”  Alex kisses Tobin’s cheek before standing up.  “Don’t forget we have the lifetime interview Thursday.”

“Did you tell them you’re not talking about the memory stuff cause you know that’s going to come up.”

“I did.  I told Aly cause she’s the one that’s running it but I can still see her bringing it up.”

~~~

Alex holds Tobin’s hand as they walk from the car to the locker room.  “I’m so happy you’re finally coming to practice.”

“I’ve been at practices.”

“But not practicing. You go to the AT or you just sit there watching us.” Alex brings her hand up to wrap around Tobin’s arm.  “I love you and I’ve missed you at practice and away games and I just want to be with you always.”

Tobin smiles as they get into the noisy room.  “Well I’m here.  You’re stuck with me forever.”

Alex shakes her head gripping her arm tighter.  “Stuck to you.”

Lindsey starts gagging next to them.  “There are other people here ya know.  If you don’t keep it down I’ll jump on Tobin’s back.”

Before Alex can respond Allie does from her seat.  “You better leave Har alone or you’ll have to sleep with one eye open.”

~~~

After a long walk with Norbert, Tobin walks back into the house, tripping over the two gym bags they had left in front of the door after their morning practice.  “Fuck.”

A few seconds later Alex calls from the kitchen, “I’m on the phone.”

Tobin rubs her knee, mumbling to herself, “Oh yeah cause I’m totally fine.”  She looks around the room after hanging up the leash.  She then moves to the doorway between the living room and kitchen watching Alex.  She leans down after a while to pet Norbert, rolling her eyes when Alex looks over at her and holds a finger gun up to her head.  

Fifteen minutes later Alex finally sets down her phone.  “I’ve got to go to Nike at some point in the next few weeks.  Wanna come with?”

Tobin shrugs and sits down next to her.  “Yeah.  I can always get a few new shirts.”  Tobin looks around the kitchen while Alex flips through a file of papers in front of her.  “Do you like our house?”

The rustling stops and Alex looks up at her. “What do you mean?”

Tobin shrugs.  “We got this house before the memory thing and then we lived separately for a while so I was just wondering what you thought.”

“I like it.  I like having a place for us.  I come home to you...and Norbert and soon hopefully another little someone.”

“Okay but don’t you think it’s gonna be like... a little cramped.  We already barely have enough room for Norbert’s stuff and if we get a kid it’s just gonna be so much more.  You’ve seen Syd’s place.  We got the small house cause we weren’t going to be here that often with the traveling and everything and it was also just the two of us.”

Alex smiles, “So you wanna move?”

“Yeah.”

Alex’s smile falls, “What about the adoption though?  They did the home visits here.”  

“Well we could keep this place until we get a kid.  Slowly move.  I mean we’d need a ton of furniture and stuff since we basically have two beds and a couch here.”  

Alex nods. “Yeah I guess.”  She smiles.  “It would allow us to do any remodeling too if the place needs it.”  She reaches out and takes Tobin’s hand.  “We should still check to make sure that’s okay with the agency though.”

Tobin picks up Alex’s phone and quickly finds the number.

~~~

“I loved that house,” Tobin comments as they climb into the car.  Alex’s hand freezes, the key just slightly turned.  “I mean yeah it’s covered in wood paneling but we’re going to redo it.  That huge open first floor is perfect for playing.  They could ride their bikes inside or play soccer. There’s already a swing set.  There’s five bedrooms.  The huge windows all along the front.  Trees...ugh babe,” Tobin reaches across the console for Alex’s hand.  “Babe.  It’s only like twenty minutes from the practice fields.  This yard is huge and the house is cool.  We’ll upgrade everything.  We can keep looking but the past ten houses were too small or too far away or not cosmetically fixable.”

Alex smiles, “This was the first house of the day.  Let’s see the rest and if you still want it then we can make an offer.”

Tobin tilts her head, “Are you just saying that for me or do you actually like it?”

“I like it.  You kinda sold it too...as long as we can remodel it because that was too much wood.”

Tobin nods, “Of course.”  She releases Alex’s hand and buckles her seat belt.  “Let’s go.”  Alex starts the car and follows the real estate agent to the next house.  

Four hours later Alex parks in their driveway and her body collapses back into the seat.  “Why is this so tiring?”

Tobin undoes her seatbelt.  “You’re a professional athlete.  Come on.  We have to celebrate.” She opens the door about to step out.

“What are we celebrating?  Being athletes?  That’s not new.”

“We’re buying a house together,” Tobin explains.

“That’s not new either.  We’ve done it already.”

Tobin shakes her head.  “Not the same.  This house wasn’t permanent.  This was like the second one we saw.  It was close to everything.  Decent size and we just wanted a place to store our stuff.  The new house is the one we’ll grow old in.”  Tobin slides out of the car.

“So then shouldn’t we be  _ celebrating _ once we buy the new house or move into it.”

Tobin turns with a smirk.  “Why are we limited to just one celebration?” Alex quickly climbs out and chases after Tobin who is laughing while struggling to unlock the front door.

~~~

Tobin and Alex sit in their car looking up at the house.  “We own this.”

Alex reaches over for Tobin’s hand.  “We do.”

“We bought a house.”

“Want to go in?”

Tobin nods and the two get out and move to the front of their car.  Tobin rests her head on Alex’s shoulder.  “This has been a good year.”

“Even though I was gone for like half of it and you haven’t been able to play?”

Tobin shrugs, “Yeah that sucked but we got married first.  We’re in the playoffs.  It’s all pretty good to me.”

Alex presses her lips against the top of Alex’s head.  “Wanna go in and I can order us dinner.”

Tobin shakes her head.  “Check the trunk.”

Alex looks at her wife confused before walking around the car.  She pops open the trunk, revealing a cooler, a blanket, and some pillows.  She turns to Tobin who is now next to her.  “What’s this?”

Tobin smiles “I figured we could eat outside.  Picnic style.  Like our first date.”

“That was our second date love,” Alex corrects.

Tobin rolls her eyes, “Would you rather we repeat that awkward experience cause I prefer this.”

Alex kisses Tobin’s cheek and reaches in, grabbing the cooler. Tobin grabs the rest of rest of the trunk contents and follows Alex to the grass of their new front yard.  

They get the blanket and pillows set up before opening the cooler.  Alex cocks her head towards Tobin, “Seriously?”

Tobin smirks while Alex pulls out the can of whipped cream.  “We’re surrounded by trees.  Total privacy.”  Tobin reaches into the cooler and pulls out two containers.  I brought us dinner and then figured we could have some dessert.”

Alex glances around at the trees that surround their house, giving them total privacy.  “There might be a bottle of something else that will help convince you.”

Alex looks inside the cooler again and smiles.  “It’s going to take quite a bit of that before we do anything.”  

Tobin nods and hands Alex a cup.  “Drink up.”

Alex rolls her eyes and knocks the cup out of Tobin’s hand.  She unscrews the cap and chugs a few gulps, hissing when she pulls the bottle away.

Tobin bites her lip and pushes the containers of food away.  She leans into Alex, forcing her down onto her back and laying over her.  Alex moans into her lips and grips her shirt.      

Soon Tobin's shirt is a few feet away and Alex's is pushed all the way up, revealing her chest for Tobin's hand.  Tobin leans back and sits up, pulling Alex up with her.  Alex's shirt is then quickly discarded with Tobin's somewhere in their new yard. Alex smiles and reaches over for the bottle.  She takes a few more gulps while she reaches behind her back with her other hand, releasing her bra. Tobin grabs the bottle, putting it down haphazardly while pushing her lips against Alex's again.   ~~~

Kelley walks over to where Alex and Tobin are leaning against the bar.  She throws her arm around Alex’s shoulder and points her cup at Tobin.

“Don’t go doing anything funny.  Just cause she scored doesn’t mean you get her tonight.  She’s all mine.”

Tobin smiles and nods.  “I know Kel.  Tonights about you.  Her goal was for you.”  She looks down at the cup.  “What’s in there?”

Kelley pouts and looks down at her own cup.  “Ice tea.” She glances over her shoulder to where the athletic trainers are sitting.  “They said I can’t drink until they finish making sure my brain is normal.”

Alex laughs and looks down at Kelley. “Kel, your brain is never normal.”

Kelley reaches over to the bar and grabs a fry from their plate. “You still love me.”  She takes a step back.  “I’m gonna head back.  Don’t stay out too late, Al. I feel empty without you sleeping next to me.”

Alex smirks.  “I’ll even wear the shirt you like.”

“My Stanford one?”

“Bye Kelley.”

“Wait,” Kelley says quickly.  “I changed my mind. I got a better one.  Say it again.”

The two look at her confused.  “Bye?”

Kelley’s face falls. “No,” she says annoyed.  “The shirt part.”

“I’ll wear the shirt you like?” Alex says, still confused.

Kelley smirks and leans towards Alex.  “I prefer it when you don’t wear a shirt at all.”

The couple groans and Tobin gives Kelley a light playful shove.  

~~~

Tobin looks over as Allie flops on the bed.  “I don’t get why I’m not allowed in.  It was my thing you all ruined.  I’m not going to ruin it for her.  She’s my wife.  I don’t get why I can’t be in there.”

Allie glances at her watch, noticing they still have a few minutes, “It’s fine.  You get more time with me.”

Tobin rolls her eyes and picks her phone up.

**Tobin: Be good**

“Har,” Allie says, getting Tobin’s attention. “Heard anything from the adoption people yet?”

Tobin shakes her head.  “No.  We have another home visit scheduled for when we get back.  They want to see the new house an-”

“They get to see your new house before me?”

Tobin rolls her eyes,  “We’ve been busy.  We just hired a contractor.  I guess you can come with us when we go to clean before the home visit.”

Allie smiles.  “Cool.  Are you gonna build a pool?”

Tobin turns her head to the computer, pointing at the screen.  “It’s time.”

“I’ll take that as it’s still open for discussion.”

~~~

Alex jogs over to Tobin with open arms.  “Tobs.”

Tobin turns from clapping towards the fans with a large smile and wraps her in a hug.  “You did great babe,” she says into her shoulder.  They break apart, both still smiling.  “You were awesome.”

They walk silently for a few steps before Tobin turns her head towards her.  “Think we can get Kel out of the room for a little bit. 

Alex nods and glances around their group of teammates for Kelley. “Most definitely.”  She finally spots her a few rows back posing with Allie.  While keeping pace with Tobin she calls out to Kelley and waits for the Georgia native to turn.  Alex pulls on her right ear then taps her nose twice.  

Kelley tilts her head for a moment in confusion then contorts to disgust.  

“Why did you want me to come up with a signal if you didn’t want me to use it?”

~~~

Alex watches from the top of the box as Tobin falls to the ground, her hand immediately going to her ankle.  The whistle blows and she starts to move towards her wife who is rolling around in pain.  She sees the official and quickly changes direction. 

"Where's the card," she barks.  "That's the second time." She continues arguing as they both move towards Tobin.  

“Calm down.” The official then leans down, asking, “Do you need a trainer?”     

Alex can hear the pain in Tobin’s voice as she says yes and quickly raises her hand along with the official, signaling the athletic trainer over.  As soon as Alex sees her wife is being attended to Alex turns back to the official and starts arguing again.

“That wasn’t a foul.  It’s a throw in.”

Alex throws her arms up.  “NOT A FOUL?  Are you kidding me?”

The official backs away and points towards the group of Thorns players, “Step away.”

Alex steps in. “How was that not a foul.  She body checked her?”

Christine gets to Alex, putting her arm across her chest to pull her away as a yellow card is produced.

“Alex calm down,” Christine demands.  “We can’t afford anyone getting sent off.”   

Alex sneers at the official and turns to see Tobin still down on the field while the North Carolina fans applaud.  She walks the few steps over, grabs a water bottle, and kneels down to wipe the dirt off her wife’s sweaty forehead.  Tobin grips the familiar hand tightly while squeezing her eyes shut.  With the officials prodding she helps Tobin up, gives her hand a firm squeeze then hands her to the athletic trainer.

Alex watches Tobin limp off, barely able to put weight on her foot.  She let’s out a sigh of relief when Tobin jogs back onto the field.

Alex doesn’t get close to Tobin again for twenty minutes when the whistle blows to signal the end of the long, rough game.   

Tobin is hugging Allie when Alex puts her arms around both of them.  They get their championship shirts and medals Tobin a few people behind of Alex but moving to Alex’s side once she get’s on stage. 

After the trophy is raised and Alex sprinkles confetti in Tobin face she finally can’t take it anymore and pulls her wife in for a searing kiss. They break apart after a minute, both completely unaware of the cheers, gags, coughs, taunts, and photos.   

Alex smiles and searches for the trophy getting passed around.  She sees it and grabs Tobin’s hand to pull her towards it.   The couple take pictures with the trophy, kissing it and each other.

They move towards the Riveters, following the trophy.  Alex smiles at the many scarves reading, ‘We’ve got frickin’ Tobin Heath’.  “They’re might have you know but I get you tonight,” Alex whispers into Tobin’s ear before walking to Allie who is holding the trophy up.

Tobin turns to Adrianna who is standing with her fiance.  “She’s going to be the death of me.”

Adrianna smirks and nods, “Thought she already was.”

Tobin groans and walks to the two Alexandra's motioning her over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is everyone feeling if I just skip basically from today until December in the story? Also I'll still take any suggestions on input for the story and potentially future characters *wink*


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short chapter. Kinda just needed some stuff to get me to where the next chapter will start. Hope this slightly satisfies.

Alex leans into Tobin’s side as she curls her toes in the sand. “This might be the last Thanksgiving that’s just the two of us.”

Tobin nods, “Hopefully,” she sighs, “and hopefully the house will be done.”

“Oh that better be done,” Alex replies. “If it’s not there’s gonna be some problems.”

“Well if you keep changing the design it’s not going to ever be done.”

“I’m only making it better. You have to agree that moving the kitchen and expanding the dining room is better than the original.” Alex looks at Tobin. “And maybe next year we could host Thanksgiving.”

Tobin snickers. “And who’s gonna cook that meal?”

“Well, if we invite both our families, then our moms and sisters can cook,” Alex states like it’s obvious. Tobin shrugs, accepting the plan. Alex smiles and rests her head against Tobin’s shoulder again. They sit silently for a few minutes, watching the waves. 

“Tobin?” Alex asks softly.

“Mmhm,” Tobin hums.

There is no response for a few moments and then she timidly asks, “Are you scared?”

Tobin kisses Alex’s forehead the best she can. “Terrified.” She rests her cheek against the top of Alex’s head before continuing. “It’s a new adventure though and it might be hard but we’re going to love any child. Alex, this kid might be the death of us but it’s also going to be the best thing we’ve ever done.”

“How long do you think it’s gonna take?”

“I don’t know. They said it all depends. I’m just hoping it’s before next season starts. We still need to get cleared though.”

“Yeah, maybe after camp in January we can get a few things.”

“What are we gonna get?” Tobin asks. “We don’t know how old the kid is or if it’s a boy or a girl.”

“We could get a few different things and donate whatever we don’t need.”

“You just want an excuse to go shopping.”

Alex smiles and nods. “Well duh.”

Tobin shivers. “Want to head back?”

Alex nods. “Okay. I could use some more baby time.”

“As long as you realize that we don’t get to keep them I’m sure either one of my sisters would be happy to have a break.”

“Katie has two. Will she really notice if one goes missing,” Alex yammers as they stand up, grabbing their shoes.

~~~

Alex stands up and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.  She glances around the floor of  their bedroom, “Do you think we’re forgetting anything?”

Tobin looks up from scratching Norbert’s stomach. “Nah, this looks all good. We’ll be there like a week and they’re sending us there with basically everything we need anyways.” Tobin sighs and looks pointedly at Alex who is wearing just a sports bra and an old pair of Cal shorts. “I’m more worried about the me and you aspect.”

“The embassy said we’ll be okay if anything does happens but it shouldn’t as long as we keep our p.d.a. on the down low. We’re good at that at work and this is work.”

“Yeah I know. I’m more worried about keeping my hands off of you at night time.”

Alex rolls her eyes and focuses on Tobin. She recognizes the look in her wife’s eyes. “Oh, is that the case?”

Tobin nods with a serious face. “I think it might be a problem.”

Alex rolls her eyes again and takes the two steps to their bed where Tobin is seated.  She sighs. “Well if you think it’s going to be a problem then it must be serious.”

Tobin smirks for a moment then quickly covers. “Yeah. It’s...it’s gonna be a serious problem.”

Alex sits down next to her, Norbert in between them. “Well what do you think we can do?”

Tobin bites her bottom lip and let her eyes glance up and down Alex’s exposed torso. “I really don’t know. You have any ideas?”

Alex purses her lips together and brings her finger pointer finger up, tapping on her lips. “Hmm.” She then quickly reaches across her body and pulls her bra up and over her head in a quick motion. She flicks it towards Tobin then leans back on her elbows. “I got nothing.”

Tobin is up and on top of Alex in a matter of moments.

~~~

Tobin looks around the living room when the house phone breaks her concentration from Super Mario Kart.  “Babe can you get that?”  After another ring with no response or noise from the rest of the house, Tobin pushes herself to her feet and walks into the kitchen.  She immediately recognizes the number and picks up the phone.

“Hello,” she says softly.

“Hello.  Is this Tobin or Alex Morgan-Heath?” an unfamiliar voice asks.

“Uh yeah.  This is Tobin.”

“Hi, Tobin.  My name is Debbie.  I’m a caseworker and I was going through files for potential foster parents and noticed you and your wife have been cleared to start fostering.”

“Yeah. I mean yes we did Like two weeks ago.  Was that a mistake?  Is there more paperwork we need to fill out?  I thought we got everything.”

“No.  It’s all in order.  I see you and your wife listed you would want to adopt from fostering and were looking for a child preferably under the age of five?”

Tobin’s breath slightly catches.  “Ye-yes.  That’s true.”  Tobin quickly walks out of the kitchen, stepping over Norbert who is lying in the doorway, and heads for the bedroom.

“A three year old boy was put in our care a few days ago.  His mother just died and we have had no luck in finding any family members capable of caring for the child.  I know Christmas Eve is tomorrow but are you and your wife willing and able to come down to the office now to learn more and hopefully take him home?”  The bedroom is empty and Tobin chews her lip.  

“Yes, yes. Of course. I will be there as soon as I can. Alex went out though so it might take a her a little longer.”

Debbie’s smile can be heard through the phone. “That’s perfectly alright. Since this is your first foster there are plenty of forms you and your wife need to fill out but as long as she is willing you can start the paperwork and then she will just need to sign a few things when she arrives.”

“Okay thank you so much. See you soon.” Tobin disconnects the call and quickly changes into a plain grey shirt, heavy flannel, and jeans.  She grabs her car keys off the dresser as she dials Alex, running out of the door before the second ring.  Alex’s voicemail starts while Tobin climbs into her car and she hangs up.  She quickly dials again while she backs out of the driveway and accelerates forward.  Alex picks up on the third ring

“What’s up babe?” she asks out of breath.

“Where the fuck are you?” Tobin huffs.

“What’s your problem?” Alex snarks back.  “I told you I was going to the gym since I had a meeting this morning.”  

“They have a kid for us.  You need to meet me at the adoption office.”  Alex doesn’t respond.  “Lex, did you hear me?  You need to stop what you’re doing and meet me there.  We need to fill out paperwork and I can’t do this without you.”

“Sorry. I’m coming.  I just dropped my keys.  I’m going to my car right now.  Shit I need to change first.  It’s freezing outside.  What else did they say?  What else do you know?”

“It’s a three year old boy.  His mom died and they couldn’t find any other family.  It’s just fostering for now but I don’t know… the way she said it made it seem like adoption was the next step.”

Alex groans, “Okay I will be there in like fourty minutes baby.  You got this.”

“Just hurry please.”

“I will.  I gotta go but call me or text me or whatever if you need anything.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Tobs.


	13. Surprise

Alex sprints in through the glass doors to the front desk, her wet hair frozen from the late  December air.  “My wife, Tobin, she’s here meeting with someone about fostering a three year old boy.

The woman behind the desk points down the hallway, “Second door on your left.”

“Thanks,” Alex smiles.  She turns and adjusts her bag on her shoulder while walking down the hall.  She knocks once before opening the door.  Tobin sits in front of a desk, pen in hand, while a woman sits opposite from her, typing on the computer.

Alex quickly introduces herself to Debbie before starting to look over and sign the forms Tobin had filled out.  Debbie glances over everything then looks first at the clock on the wall then at the two sitting across from her.  “Okay he should be here soon.  I went over some of this with Tobin but I didn’t get to everything so I’ll just repeat it all.  Franklin was put in our care five days ago.  He lived with his mother who was killed in a car accident Friday morning.  Franklin wasn’t in the car.  There was no father listed on his birth certificate.  Alisha, Franklin’s mother, was an only child and her father lives in a nursing home in New York so he isn’t able to take him.  He has no other family which is why we want to move him out of the short term foster care that he is in and place him with hopefully his forever family.”

Alex looks down at her hand gripping Tobin’s then up at Tobin’s face.  “Are you ready?”

Tobin nods.  “I just want to meet him.”

“That sounds lovely,” Debbie interjects.  “I just want to go through some things you will need.”  The couple turns as the older woman looks down at the paper.  “So from the home visit I see you have an extra bedroom and bed.  You might want to try putting some pillows around him or on the floor so he doesn’t get hurt if he’s an active sleeper.  His foster parents said he seems to be potty trained but gets nervous or shy and has had a few accidents, especially at night.  Pull ups could be helpful with that and maybe lay down a plastic crib sheet so if it happens it will be easier to clean up and protects your mattress.”

“Uh yeah,” Alex nods while glancing at Tobin.  “One of us can stop at the store on the way home.” 

“Oh right.  Do you have a car seat?”

The two shake their heads.  “But we can get one,” Tobin glances to Alex.  “Who’s still here?”

“Allie?”

“No,” Tobin shakes her head.  “She left this morning.”  Tobin bites her lip. “Sinc?”

“In canada.”

The two look at each other with blank faces before Alex’s lights up, “Becky’s here.”  

“You’re right,” Tobin smiles.  “I’ll go call her.”  Tobin steps out of the room and calls her teammate.  Becky picks up on the second ring.

“Hey, Tobin.”

“Are you busy?”

“I was just wrapping presents.  What’s up?”

“Do you think you could run to the store and pick up a few things for us?”

“You’re going to need to explain a little better, Tobin.”

“So Alex and I didn’t really tell a lot of people cause we didn’t know how long it would take but we’ve been looking to adopt and we just got the the call,” Tobin rushes to explain.

“Oh my God Tobin that’s great.”

Tobin smiles.  “Yeah.  We’re sitting at the adoption place now waiting to meet him but we need a car seat and some pull ups.”

“Of course, of course.  Is there a certain brand?”  

“No.  I trust you.  Just get whatever looks the safest or I don’t know, can you call Cheney or ARod.  They should know.  We have to sit with him for like an hour before leaving just so he can get kinda used to us.  I’ll text you the address.”

“I will be there as soon as I can.  Wait. Tobin how old is he?  What size am I getting?”

“He’s three so just get whatever it says is good for his age.  Thank you so much.”

Tobin hangs up and while texting the address she hears the door open down the hall.  She looks over and sees a man and woman walk to the front desk.  The man holding a duffel bag and woman holding a bundled up child.  

Tobin watches them talk to the receptionist then turn down the other hall.  Tobin quickly opens the door to Debbie’s office.  “I think he’s here.”  

A second later, the phone on the desk rings.  Debbie picks it up and brings it to her ear.  “Hello….Yes...Alright thank you.  I will bring them out.”  She hangs up the phone and smiles at the couple.  “Are you ready to meet him?”

Tobin nods while Alex gives a verbal affirmation.

“Okay well,” Debbie raises her arm and points out towards the hallway.  “He’s waiting for you.”  She leads them down the hall to the couple that Tobin saw earlier.  “This is Jonas and Maya.  They have been looking after Franklin.”  

They all shake hands and Tobin looks around them.  “Uh where is Franklin?” 

“He is just inside the room playing,” Jonas answers, pointing to a door behind them.  “It’s best if we’re not in there when he meets you so it’s a clean start.”

“Also, just so you’re warned he keeps asking for his mother.  We have tried to explain to him that his mother died but he hasn’t really been able to grasp the idea yet.  He just keeps asking when she’s going to come pick him up.  We took him to the funeral and he hugged her coffin.  We try to remind him of that.”

Jonas holds out the duffle bag.  “These are his clothes.  We got a few pictures of him and his mom from his house.”  Alex takes the bag and then he shrugs a backpack off of his back.  “His toys are in here.  The purple hippo is his favorite.  He named it Snuggle.”

Tobin takes the backpack and puts it over her shoulder.  “Thank you.  Is there anything else we should know?”

Maya nods, “He’s scared of the dark.  He’s quiet but I think that’s more cause he misses his mom and we’re still strangers.  He has accidents and then gets embarrassed so we try to be as reassuring as possible but it helps to ask repeatedly if he needs to go to the bathroom.”

“He also really likes dinosaurs,” Jonas adds.  “Which leads him to liking broccoli.  It’s the only vegetable we could get him to eat.”

“Yeah he pretends to be a dinosaur.”

“With each kid we get we keep a little notebook and write everything down, likes, dislikes, everything.  We put it in the backpack.”

“Thank you,” Alex says.  “Thank you so much.”

“Are you ready to meet him?” Debbie asks from behind them.  Tobin and Alex nod.  Jonah and Maya step out of the way.

“Congratulations,” Maya smiles before they walk back towards the reception area.

Alex and Tobin instinctively reach for each other's hands.  They each take a deep breath before nodding to Debbie.  She softly knocks and then pushes open the door.  They immediately hear an electronic siren then the sound of plastic crashing and crunching together.  A woman sits in a chair but the couple’s eyes go straight to the small boy facing away from them, playing with a two toy cars.  “We’ll be right outside if you need anything.”  The woman sitting stands up with a smiles and walks to the door.

Tobin and Alex set the bags by the door and walk towards the Franklin.  They walk around him and sit down a few feet away and watch him.  He is looking down, his dark, curly, shaggy hair blocking most of his face from view.  Tobin looks around the floor, finding a toy firetruck.  She scoots slightly closer and pushes the button on top.  The siren causes Franklin to look up.  

“Hi,” Tobin says softly with a wave. He waves back.  “Can I play with you?”  Franklin looks back down and slowly pushes his cars around on the carpet.  Tobin looks over at Alex, not sure what to do.  Tobin rolls the truck closer to him and keeps talking.  “My name is Tobin.” Tobin then points to Alex. “This is Alex.  Can you tell me your name?”

Franklin grabs the truck and looks up again.  His eyes dart between Tobin and Alex a few time.  “Fwankie,” he says softly in a high voice. The two adults can’t help but smile at his voice.  He looks down again at his cars.  They sit quietly for a few minutes, letting him get more used to their presence.  

“Frankie,” Alex asks, “can you tell me how old you are.”  

He raises his hand, all five fingers extended.  “Thwee,” he says a little more confidently.  “You?”

The two laugh.  “I’m a little older,” she responds.  “I’m twenty eight.”  Alex starts to raise her hands but then stops.  “I don’t even have enough fingers,” she softly laughs

“When’s mommy comin?”

Tobin and Alex look at each other.  Alex scoots closer.  “She’s not coming sweetie.  She got in an accident remember.  But she loved you very much.”

“You’re going to come home with us.”

His bottom lip quivers and Tobin quickly stands up and goes to the bags they put down.  “I wan’ mommy.”  Tobin sits down next to Franklin while looking through the bag.  She pulls out a long armed, fluffy, purple hippo.

“Do you want to hold Snuggle?”  He grabs it and holds it tightly.  Tobin reaches out and places a hand on his back, with her other hand she holds out a picture of him with his mom.  “Do you want to see a picture of your mommy?”  He nods and looks at it.  

He places an open palm over her face, gently stroking her cheek. “Mommy.”

Tobin softly rubs his back while Alex talks to him.  “Frankie.  Do you remember going to her funeral?”

“Flowez.”

Alex nods.  “Yeah there were flowers. Do you remember saying bye to mommy?”  Franklin nods then continues playing with the trucks in front of him, Snuggle draped over his lap.  Tobin sets the picture down so it’s still facing him  They let him push the cars around by himself, every once in a while sliding the car or truck back to him if he pushes or throws it out of reach.  Alex looks around and sees a bunch of foam blocks in the corner.  She slides herself over and starts building a tower.

Once she has three towers, each about two feet high she looks up.  Franklin is watching her, a car in each hand. She glances at Tobin who is smiling at her, eyes hopeful. “Do you want to go destroy the towers Alex made?”  Tobin takes the car he’s not holding and rolls it with force towards Alex.  It hits two of the towers, toppling them.  Franklin laughs and throws the fire truck at the one still remaining.  

Luckily for Alex the truck hit the floor a foot away and not her head.  He crawls over to it and pushes the button.  With the siren going, he drives it recklessly towards the tower.  He crashes into the blocks and laughs again as the fall onto him. Alex and Tobin smile at each other as Tobin slides closer and Alex starts to rebuild the tower.

Tobin starts collecting blocks too.  “Should we make a really big one?”  Franklin nods and starts making his own tower.  Tobin hands him blocks while he stacks them on top of each other.  Every time he turns to Tobin to get a block Alex straightens the tower so it won’t fall over.  He pushes himself onto his feet, to add a few more blocks.  He steps closer and knocks into the tower.  Tobin and Alex look at each other fearfully but he soon starts laughing and resetting the blocks. 

This happens a few more times when there is a knock on the door.  The two adults turn to see Debbie’s head pop in.  “Looks like things are going well in here.”  They nod.  “Your friend arrived with a  _ few  _ things.”

Tobin glances at Alex who nods and stands up.  Once in the entryway, Alex sees Becky sitting in one of the chairs surrounded by five large white bags.  She stands up when she sees Alex approaching.  “How much did Tobin tell you to buy?”

Becky smiles.  “I might have went a little overboard.  I got the car seat and some pull ups but then I saw a soccer ball and some books and clothes and some other stuff I wasn’t sure if you needed.”  Alex just looks at the large bags with wide eyes.  “Zola helped too. It wasn’t just me.”  

Alex smiles and looks down at the bags again.  “Help me get them into the car?”  Becky nods.  “Let me just grab some other things.”  Alex heads back to the room where Tobin is building another tower.   “Tobs, I’m gonna load the stuff into the car.  Becky went a little overboard. Should I put the carseat in yours or mine?”

Tobin glances over at her with a smile.  “Uh.  Yours.  It’s safer.  Also I might just ride home with you and we can come get my car later.”  The tower falls over next to Tobin.  They turn to see Franklin holding Snuggle by the arms, swinging him back and forth to trying to hit the remaining blocks.

“Give me your keys,” Alex demands.  Tobin looks at her skeptical  but pulls them out of her pocket and tosses them to her.  Alex grabs the duffle bag and heads back out to Becky who is reading one of the many posters that line the wall of the waiting room.  “Do you have to go home right away?  Is Zola still here?”  

Becky shakes her head, “No and yes. Do you need something else?”

Alex holds Tobin’s keys out.  “Can you drive Tobin’s car home for us?  We had to come separately and we want to go home together.”  

Becky smiles at the keys in her hand.  “Zola’s gonna love driving this.” Alex rolls her eyes and picks up a few bags. Becky picks up the rest and they walk to Alex’s car.  Zola meets them after finally finding a place to park his car and the three of them work on getting the car seat snapped in.  

After five minutes and a few pinched fingers they get it clicked into place.  “Thank you guys so much. Thank you for all of these toys. Just leave the keys in the mailbox.”

“Just let us know if you need anything else,” Zola says.

“Yeah, and send us some pictures when you can,” Becky adds.

Alex nods, “I will.”

When Alex reenters the building Debbie is sitting at the front desk.  “So are you ready to take him home?”

Alex nods, “Can we?”

“Yes.  He’s yours.  We will be in contact with you to see how it’s going and to hopefully start the adoption process if that’s what you still want.”

“It is.”  

Debbie hands over a folder.  “I went over most of this with Tobin earlier but this folder has all the information you need for who to call in case of an emergency or anything depending on when it is.  I will call you tomorrow to let you get somewhat settled and we will make an appointment in a week.  It will mostly just be a check in and to make sure you don’t have any questions.”

Alex takes the folder and thanks Debbie before walking down the hall to the room.  She opens the door and sees Tobin holding Franklin up so he can stack a block near her head.  “We’re all set to go.”

“Not yet,” Tobin says.  “We have one more thing to do.”  She sets Franklin down and kneels.  They look up at the tower together.  “Frankie do you think you can knock that tower down?  You’re going to have to be really strong to knock it down.”

Franklin runs at it, arms up and shrieking.  The tower falls over, causing all three to laugh.  Tobin grabs the bin and quickly starts to toss blocks into them.  Alex grabs his coat from the hook next to the door.  “Frankie can you put your coat on by yourself.”

He shakes his head and starts to make another tower.  Alex lays the coat on the floor next to him.  “Want to see a cool way to put on your coat?”  He tilts his head all the way to the side so his ear touches his shoulder and raises his arms up questioningly.  Alex can’t help but smile as she grabs her own coat and lays it on the floor next to his.  “My sister taught me this when I was little.”  She looks to make sure he’s watching then leans over the collar and sliding her arms into the sleeves.  She then throws her arms up so the coat goes up and over her head. She wiggles her arms a little until the coat is covering her shoulders.  

Franklin stares up at her, mouth open. “Do you want to try?”  He nods and walks over to the jacket, stepping on the jacket and pulling on the sleeves.  Alex kneels and helps him.  Once he’s done Alex reaches forward and zips it for him.  He backs out of her grasp and unzips it, trying to take it off.  “You want to do it again?” 

He stops fussing and bows his head, shaking it quickly.  Alex pouts, “Darn cause I want to do it again and I was hoping you would do it with me.”  Alex takes off her jacket and lays it back on the floor while Tobin walks over.  Franklin watches Alex intently as she puts her jacket on again.  She looks towards Franklin, “Are you sure you don’t want to try again? I’ll help you.”  He continues staring down at Alex’s hands.  

Alex glances at Tobin then tentatively reaches out, grabbing the jacket and sliding it off.  She places it in front of him and then sits back on her heels.  He reaches down and quickly swings it over his head, hitting Tobin in the face.  She instinctively brings her hand up to her face over her cheek where the zipper hit her.  

Alex reaches over and kisses Tobin’s cheek.  “You okay?”  Tobin nods. Alex reaches for the jacket again, zipping it up.  Franklin tries to pull the zipper down again but Alex stops him.  “We’re going to go outside buddy and it’s cold.  When we get home you can take it off and put it on as many times as you want.”

Franklin pouts and crosses his arms across his chest.  Tobin holds Snuggle out in front of him.  “Want to hold Snuggle so he doesn’t get cold.”  He quickly grabs the hippo and holds it in his crossed arms.  The two adults stand up, Tobin puts on her coat, and they look down at the child they are about to take home.

_ ‘Should I pick him up?’ _ Tobin mouths.

Alex shakes her head.  “Frankie, we’re going outside.  You either need to hold my hand or let Tobin carry you.”  He glances between them then extends a hand up to Alex who quickly takes it.  

The three walk to the car and get Franklin buckled into his new car seat.  Tobin slides in the back next to him while Alex carefully drives them home.

A police car drives by with its lights and sirens on and Franklin points to it. “Popo.”  Tobin starts laughing.  

After a few moments she nods, “Yeah that’s right.  Popo.”  She glances towards the front at Alex.  “Hit it babe.  We got the popo on our tail.”

Alex looks at her wife through the rearview mirror.  “We aren’t outrunning anyone babe.  We are driving the speed limit and no more.”  

Thirty minutes later, Alex pulls in next to Tobin’s car and they immediately hear Norbert’s barking.  They share a worried look through the mirror.  

Tobin turns to Franklin who is looking out the window at their house.  Tobin leans in like she has a secret. “Have you ever had a pet before?”  He shakes his head.  “Well we have a dog.  He’s very friendly and loves to give kisses.  Do you know how dogs give kisses?” He shakes his head again.  “They lick you with their big, wet, slobbery tongues.”  Tobin holds her hand up and licks it.  “That’s how they say hello.”  Tobin looks over to Alex who is looking back from the front seat.  “Go put him on a leash and bring him out.  It’ll be better to do outside.”  

Alex hops out and heads for the door while Tobin slowly undoes the buckles.  “Now if you feel scared I want you to tell me but Norbert isn’t going to hurt you okay.”  Franklin climbs out of the car seat and lets Tobin help him down from the car.  Alex brings Norbert out, pulling on the leash to keep him from taking off towards the young boy.  “Do you want me to hold you?” Tobin asks.  Franklin nods and Tobin quickly scoops him up, unable to keep the smile off of her face.  

“He’s going to want to sniff your hand.  That’s how dogs know who you are.  Watch.”  Tobin holds her hand out allowing Norbert to sniff it.  He sniffs once then immediately starts licking it, soon covering it in slobber.  “See.  Lots of slobber.”  Franklin’s eyes stay trained on Norbert.  “Do you want to try?” Franklin doesn’t respond.  Tobin bites her lip for a minute then smiles.  “Want to see something cool.  Can you say ‘sit’?”

“Sit,” Franklin says softly.

“Can you tell Norbert to sit?” Tobin asks.

Franklin looks at Tobin then down at the dog with his wagging tail and a little louder says, “Noybeet sit.”

Alex yanks on the leash and Norbert sits, tail still wagging.  Franklin starts to squirm, trying to get out of Tobin’s arms.  She lets him down but holds onto his sides just in case.  “First let him sniff your hand, okay?”  Franklin holds his hand out and Alex and Tobin hold their breaths while Norbert leans forward and starts sniffing the offered hand. After a few seconds his tongue comes out and he licks Franklin’s palm causing the three year old to jerk his hand back while laughing.  He holds it out again, pulling it back after each lick with infectious laughter.  Tobin smiles up at Alex and mouths,  _ ‘I love you.’ _  Alex mouths it back.

Eventually they are able to move inside and they watch Franklin throw Norbert’s ball as far as he can, most of the time he throws it right into the floor a foot away.  “I think we’re going to be okay,” Alex says softly, wrapping her arms around Tobin.

Tobin nods, “We are okay.”

~~~

An hour later, the two had everything from the car moved into the house and are sitting on the couch watching Franklin watch Norbert sleep.  

“What should we do for dinner?” Tobin softly asks.

Alex shrugs, “The book says he likes pasta and we also have broccoli.  That’d be pretty easy.”

Tobin nods and pushes herself up.  She walks over to the young boy and kneels down.  “We’re going to make pasta for dinner.  Does that sound okay?”

Franklin nods tentatively and watches Tobin walk into the other room. He looks at the doorway even after she has disappeared and Alex can hear her pulling the pot out from underneath the stove.

“Frankie do you need to go to the bathroom?” The young boy turns to her, his lips squished together.  “Can we at least try?” Alex stands up and holds out her hand to him.

He looks at her hand skeptically for a few seconds before standing up and taking it, Snuggle tucked under his other arm.  Alex leads him down the hall to the guest bathroom and shows him the frog potty Becky had bought. After seeing if he needs any help she takes Snuggle, places him on the counter, and steps out of the room. She closes the door most of the way.

Once he’s done she helps him wash his hands they walk out together.  Alex looks down as they slowly walk towards the kitchen together, her emotions mixed of fear and happiness.

~~~

After dinner and a hard fought bed time they finally are able to move to their own bed. They collapse back onto the pillows with a long sigh.

“Oh my God,” Alex sighs.  “We shouldn’t be this tired.”

Tobin nods resting her head on Alex’s shoulder.  “We still need to tell everyone too.  And I don’t think we should go down to your parents.”

Alex kisses the top of Tobin’s head, “I’ll unpack everything tomorrow.  I don’t really think we’ll get a refund though because it’s less than 24 hours.  We should probably call my parents now so they don’t have to worry about picking us up or anything.” 

Tobin glances at the clock, “And we should probably call mine too even though it’s,” Tobin does quick mental math.  “Eleven.”

“You wanna call my mine and I’ll call yours?”

Tobin smiles, “Sounds about right.”

An hour later, after each has talked to both sets of parents they get ready for bed and climb under the covers.  “We have so much to do.  We need to get a tree, stockings, presents, another car seat for your car.”  

“We’ll get it all done.” Tobin assures. “It can be family bonding.”  

Alex smiles and soon they’re both asleep.

Tobin wakes up suddenly when Norbert jumps to a standing position on the bed and her leg.  She quickly sits up in the black room and looks to the open door and can see a small figure standing there.  She puts her hand on Norbert’s back to calm him as she climbs out.

“What’s wrong Frankie?”  She doesn’t get a response as she walks over and kneels down next to him.  He is holding Snuggle tightly around the neck, still in his dinosaur pajamas.  “Did you get scared?”

Franklin nods and Tobin sadly smiles at him. 

“Do you want me to come sit with you?”  He nods again, not looking Tobin in the eyes.  Tobin places her hand on his shoulder and leads him to his new room.  She turns on the light as they walk in and helps him back into bed.  “Want me to read you a story?

“Yes pwease,” he softly mumbles as he gets comfortable.

Tobin picks up the pictureless picture book that she watched Alex read to him twice before they were able to get him to close his eyes.  “You want me to read this one?”He nods and smiles as he looks up at her with sleepy eyes.  She opens the book and starts reading.  Every few pages, Tobin glances down. 

The first few times, small brown eyes stare up at her but not even halfway through the book the eyes are replaced by eyelids.  She continues to read softly but her eyes are starting to close by the time she gets to the end.  She puts the book on the bedside table and turns her head to look down at the young boy breathing softly next to her.

The next thing she knows Alex is softly shaking her arm and there is light coming through the blinds.  Tobin stretches as she sits up confused for a moment as to why she’s back in the guest room.  She then remembers the little boy sleeping next to her and turns.  He is now on his stomach with his arm splayed out and the covers only over his left foot.

Tobin reaches out and pulls the blanket up to his shoulders.  She slides out of bed and slowly walks out of the room with Alex.  Once they reach the kitchen Alex walks to the coffee maker, “What happened?”

“He came in last night.  Something scared him.  I read to him for a bit and then we both fell asleep.”

Alex nods and starts to make their coffee when they hear the guest room door open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know this is no notice but that was the end. In short, I don't like writing this story anymore. It has been quite a journey though and this story and your comments helped me a lot. Not sure when I'll start posting a new story. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting and I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as I did.


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was supposed to be at the end of the last chapter. I wrote it in a different doc and forgot to merge them, sorry. This for real is the end.

“Where’s my little nephew?” Ashlyn asks as she bounces over to Alex after the final whistle.

“I don’t know,” Alex replies, looking around.  She spots Edie running from the sideline and looks a few steps behind her to see Franklin chasing after her. “He’s playing with his best friend,” Alex points out.

Ashlyn sticks out her lip as they start heading over, “I thought I was his best friend?”

“He’s met you twice and you scared him by talking about sharks.”

“Yeah, but we totally bonded the next time. I didn’t bring up sharks that time,” Ashlyn insists.

Alex shrugs with with a smirk, “I don’t know. He just keeps asking about Ali.” She turns slightly and starts shaking hands with a few Pride players.

“That is such a lie,” Ashlyn looks around for Tobin or Ali. “I’m asking Tobin.”

~~~

“You ready to see your new house buddy?” Tobin asks from the front seat.

Franklin nods excitedly. “We play basketball?”

“Don’t you want to see your new room?” Alex asks as they turn onto their street. 

“Basketball?” he repeats.

Alex looks over at Tobin, “Good thing we’re soccer players.”

“I know stuff about basketball.”

Alex rolls her eyes and turns into their driveway. They park and let Franklin out of his carseat.  He quickly runs over to the basketball hoop they had installed and looks around for the ball.

“Franklin,” Alex calls, as she walks towards the front door and Tobin lets Norbert out from the back.  “Come inside, then you can play basketball.”

“No,” he demands, stomping his feet and crossing his arms high on his chest. 

Tobin sighs, and walks over to him, “Come on Frankie. The ball is in your new room.  You have to go get that if you want to play.”

Franklin huffs but walks towards Alex, arms still crossed. The two lead him inside and up the stairs to his new room, Norbert following closely behind. They step out of the way and let Franklin push the door open.  

He stops mid step and looks around at his basketball themed room. He quickly spots the kid sized hoop and runs over. He grabs the ball and does a slam dunk.

Tobin leans against the door frame while Alex hugs her from behind.  “We probably could have given him a princess room with that hoop and he would be just as happy.”

Alex shakes her head, “I think when he notices the signed jersey and the fat head he’ll be glad we didn’t go with princess sheets.

“Yeah well those blazer sheets took forever.”

Alex smiles and squeezes her arms tight, “You want to barbeque tonight?”

~~~

“What about this picture?” Tobin asks holding up her phone of a picture of the three of them at the beach. 

“His lips are blue,” Alex points out.

“Yours would be blue too if you hadn’t chosen cherry.” Tobin pulls her phone back and starts looking through more pictures. 

Five minutes later they each have settled on three. “You ready?”

Tobin nods. “Post it on three?”

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

_ alexmorgan13 Franklin is officially a Morgan-Heath. He’s been a handful so far and probably will the rest of our lives but I can’t wait to continue enjoying every minute of it #welcometothefamily #notjustasoccerfamilyanymore #someoneexplainbasketball _

_ tobinheath 8/9/18 @alexmorgan13 and I are delighted to share that our little boy is a Morgan-Heath now. At 12:45 this afternoon the judge signed the final papers. Weighing 35 lbs and 38 inches. Lot’s of love today and everyday #blessed _

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be based on prompts that I think fit with the story so let me know what you want to see. Also if you want to send it to me anonymously on Tumblr (memyselfandmygirlfriend) that is awesome and I will see it but I don't post those because people that I know in real life follow me and I'm not at that level with them. I don't bite though so if you have a question or something feel free to message me.


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